Deputies' overtime pay at airport investigated
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Public safety officials are investigating whether members of the sheriff's division who guard Honolulu International Airport bilked the state for overtime pay.
Department of Public Safety director Ted Sakai confirmed that a probe is ongoing, but declined to say whether any deputies or their supervisors had been reassigned as a result.
"We are looking into possible overtime abuse at the airport," he said. "As soon as I heard about it, I immediately took action to start an investigation."
The probe comes just months after two former Honolulu police officers who were assigned to the airport in 1999 pleaded no contest to theft charges for accepting pay for hours they did not work, including overtime.
One of the accused officers had been a lieutenant in charge of the airport security detail at the time of the theft, which totaled about $23,000, and the other officer was an administrative sergeant.
Under terms of a plea agreement, the officers agreed to pay back the money and perform community service. They had retired soon after the discrepancies were uncovered.
The Department of Transportation, which runs the airport, ended a perimeter security contract with the Honolulu Police Department in 1999 after an audit sharply criticized rising overtime costs and triggered the theft investigation.
The audit found that some officers assigned to the airport had earned nearly $40,000 in overtime per year. Such pay can be used to pad retirement pensions, which are calculated based on an employee's three highest-paying years of service, officials complained.
Sheriff's deputies from the Department of Public Safety, who took over as the airport's main security force, are paid less than police officers. But their role has greatly expanded since the Sept. 11 attacks, to include checking the trunks of vehicles that are parked and other duties, so more deputies have been working overtime.
"The level of our responsibility has risen dramatically, without additional staff," Sakai said.
Deputies were pulled off other duties, such as serving warrants, to increase airport staffing from 27 deputies to 63. Meanwhile, the number of outstanding warrants rose to an all-time high of 75,000 last month, for offenses ranging from unpaid traffic tickets to violent crimes.
Sakai said more than 15 deputies recently graduated from a training class and will help alleviate the staff shortage. Another training class begins later this month.
The state budget now pending in the Legislature requests $2,468,760 to continue paying for the 36 deputies who were added to the airport after Sept. 11.
Starting today, Army National Guard troops will turn over security inside the airport to a civilian security force. The new security force, composed mostly of retired police and military police officers hired through Akal Security, will be under control of the national Transportation Security Administration.
Like the National Guard, the new security officers will be in tactical dress and paramilitary uniforms. Hawai'i was the first state in the nation to put Guard members into the airports following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
