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DURHAM -- N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper's staff has agreed to take the lead in deciding whether evidence in the Durham Police Department's overtime scandal merits criminal prosecution.
Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley confirmed Monday that the attorney general's special prosecutions unit had signaled it would "accept the case" in place of Durham District Attorney Tracey Cline.
State law gives local prosecutors the power to call on the attorney general when they believe they and their staff would face a conflict of interest.
Cline said Monday that she thought it best to have an "independent agency" make the decisions about any prosecution stemming from the overtime scandal.
"Most of the senior staff here has worked with the Police Department closely the last 15 years," she said. "When you have a situation like [this] where there's an officer involved, we need to take the extra precaution."
The decision was anticipated. Cline last week asked the State Bureau of Investigation to do the follow-up work required in assembling evidence in the matter.
City auditors say the head of the Police Department's "secondary employment" office, Officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor, received $62,583 in overtime over the past year or so, and was allowed to record 904 hours of compensatory time.
The officer's claims more than doubled her annual salary. Her base salary as of May 13 was $51,220 a year.
The auditors have also said senior commanders in the Police Department enabled abuse of the overtime system. Deputy Police Chief Beverly "B.J." Council personally signed off on 10 of Robinson-Taylor's 12 overtime claims, without requiring her to submit detailed documentation.
The finding cost Council her job. She put in her retirement papers last week.
City Manager Tom Bonfield said Monday that officials with the SBI and the attorney general's office have yet to contact his office. When they do, administrators will hand over documents related to the case.
