Even in these tough times, some South Floridians have jobs that let them skip out of work, take long lunches, knock off early on Fridays and still collect a full day's pay. Who are they? Cops at local police departments, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
Longer workdays have become the rule for many employees since the U.S. and local economy tanked. But the Sun Sentinel found the workplace has been kinder to some policemen and women: Paid to serve and protect, they regularly leave their beats and cities before their shifts are over.
The story is told by the cops' SunPass toll records. Comparing them with police officers' time sheets, the newspaper found police from Plantation to Miami claiming they'd worked a full shift but heading home early.
The practice has cost police departments untold thousands of dollars in unearned salaries, but the impact goes far beyond the dent in taxpayers' wallets. Whether police officers are vanishing with or without their commanders' knowledge, it's proof of a major management problem, law enforcement experts say.
It also can be risky. Cops who skip out may endanger fellow officers who depend on them for backup in emergencies.
The bottom line: "Citizens are paying for police protection they're not getting," said Dennis Kenney, a former Florida police officer who is now a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Many neighborhoods do not have enough police protection as it is, said Patti Lynn, president of the nonprofit Broward Coalition of homeowners and business associations. "When somebody goes home early," she said, "it jeopardizes the health and safety of every citizen."
Among cops, it's no secret that some know how to game the system. On the law enforcement blog Leoaffairs.com, anonymous posters have been writing for years about "early birds flying the coop," trains departing the station, and cops signing off duty from their living rooms.
"You've never slid out early and went 10-7 [out of service] from your bed?" one poster asked.
Because police work can be grueling, unpredictable and sometimes hard to reconcile with the responsibilities of a spouse or parent, many departments give officers some leeway.
Some supervisors allow cops to leave early as comp time without recording it or even permit entire shifts to go home after another squad has come on duty. In Plantation, for instance, officers often report for duty about 15 minutes before their shift formally begins, so the brass allows some flexibility as to when they can head home.
Open relatively minor give-and-take in scheduling is one thing. But the Sun Sentinel found other more egregious work habits in the commuting histories of South Florida police officers. Using the same SunPass data it mined earlier this year to document widespread police speeding, the Sun Sentinel's investigation revealed:
A major in Davie left work after less than a full day two-thirds of the time over nine months, cutting out especially early on Fridays. The 23-year veteran announced his retirement two days after the Sun Sentinel shared its findings with a town councilman.
Father-and-son officers in Plantation already had made it to a tollbooth in Palm Beach County 30 miles away by the time their shifts ended on most days. Together, they spent 182 hours of scheduled work time outside the city over 15 months. That's 4 1/2 workweeks.
A Miami officer headed home 30 minutes to four hours early on dozens of occasions. A fellow officer arrived to work late, as much as three hours after her shift started, on nearly one of every five days.
A detective in Plantation regularly went home to Coconut Creek for one- to three-hour lunches; his officer wife worked less than a full eight-hour day three-quarters of the time.
"This whole thing opened our eyes," said Erik Funderburk, Plantation's deputy police chief. "The bottom line is we're accountable to be here."
Police brass in that city have resorted to randomly calling entire squads back to the station to ensure officers are where they're supposed to be. They first became aware of a problem in January, when the Sun Sentinel alerted them to SunPass records showing cops driving their patrol cars in excess of 90 mph just going back and forth to work.
The toll records, with a simple date and time stamp, now have provided grounds for discipline and internal affairs investigations across South Florida police departments. Experts say the problems exposed are likely more widespread because only cops who have police-issued SunPass transponders and regularly drive on toll roads have come under scrutiny.
To find officers who skipped out, the Sun Sentinel examined records of 46 commuters from police departments in Sunrise, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Davie, Miami and Miami Beach from late 2010 through early 2012 officers whose toll times showed them leaving their cities before their shifts ended. Their SunPass times then were compared to shift assignments and records of hours worked.
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