By Ray Gronberg
gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- District Attorney Tracey Cline said Thursday that she's calling in the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the Durham Police Department's overtime scandal.
Cline said she'd asked her office manager to draft a letter to the SBI saying it's "in the best interests of justice" for that agency to take the lead in doing any work that might result in a criminal prosecution.
The district attorney added that she'd called Police Chief Jose Lopez on Wednesday afternoon to tell him of her decision, and that Lopez agreed "it was best for the SBI to do the case and determine what criminal activities, if any, took place."
Cline acted after city officials released the results of an audit that concluded overtime claims submitted by the head of the Police Department's "secondary employment" office, Officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor, were "not justifiable or reasonable."
Robinson-Taylor received $62,583 in overtime over the past year or so, and was allowed to record 904 hours of compensatory time. Her base salary as of May 13 was $51,220 a year
The audit also concluded that a lack of oversight by top-level commanders in the Police Department enabled abuse of the payroll system.
Deputy Police Chief Beverly "B.J." Council personally signed off on 10 of 12 of Robinson-Taylor's overtime claims, without requiring detailed documentation from the officer.
Council's executive officer, Capt. Charlene Balch, questioned the officer's claims but the deputy chief said she was allowing Robinson-Taylor to earn extra time because she couldn't work a second job.
The finding is costing Council her job. City Manager Tom Bonfield announced Wednesday that she'd put in her retirement papers.
The auditors also found that the department's top civilian, Administrative Services Bureau Chief Jesse Burwell, had alerted Lopez to the problem. But the chief and Council "defended the overtime expenditures in the absence of supporting documentation."
Bonfield has said city officials would turn over the file on the audit to Cline's office for consideration of criminal charges. As of Thursday evening, however, the handoff hadn't taken place.
The city manager said he'd talked to one of Cline's top aides, Assistant District Attorney David Saacks, several days before. The two were to organize a meeting next week or the week after once Cline finishes her work on the Keith Kidwell murder trial.
Bonfield also said he hadn't heard anything about the SBI being called in. Contacted again after The Herald-Sun's interview with Cline, he declined comment, saying he wanted first to talk to Lopez and the district attorney.
Cline has the power under state law to call in the SBI to help with investigations.
She also has the power to ask the state attorney general's office to handle a prosecution if she feels her office has a conflict of interest. Such a move would appear likely, given the ties inherent between the police and the district attorney's office.
