Kenneth Earl Williams, the disgraced San Jose cop who resigned last week after he was convicted of soliciting naked photographs from a Scotts Valley teenager, spent almost 1,000 days on leave from the department stripped of his badge and gun after he was charged.
Yet San Jose police paid the 22-year veteran more than $270,000 in salary plus benefits during his leave, according to police records.
His only job requirement -- to call the SJPD Internal Affairs unit every weekday to see if he was needed for desk duty.
San Jose police say they put such officers on paid leave to get them off the streets and -- at the same time -- protect their due process rights by not firing them on charges that could ultimately turn out to be false. But the Williams example shows how that approach can financially backfire when a criminal prosecution drags on -- in this case for 2½ years.
"No one was happy this took as long as it did," said Deputy Police Chief David Cavallaro. "But in America you are innocent until proven guilty and things are not always as they appear to be. Every person, police officer or not, still has rights."
Cavallaro, the former commander of the department's Internal Affairs unit, said that the paid leave for Williams was the longest he could recall.
Although San Jose's police command staff decides case-by-case how to handle allegations against its officers, it is routine procedure to put officers who face criminal charges or criminal investigations on paid leave. The department can also open an internal affairs investigation, but the ultimate decision on an officer's future with the department is usually left until a criminal case is completed.
The San Francisco Police Department, with its unique civilian review board, sometimes places officers on unpaid leave, but this is rare throughout the state.
San Jose recently suspended with pay an officer charged with time sheet fraud, another charged with stealing from a departmental athletic fund and two officers being criminally probed to see if they tried to cover up a former officer's alleged involvement in a drunken driving accident.
The amount of money Williams received while on leave raised concerns with city leaders, but few saw a good alternative to the SJPD's wait-and-see approach.
"My reaction is that the court system works too bloody slow," said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. "But there aren't a lot of options. What can we do, given our responsibilities to every officer's due process rights?."
Barbara Attard, the city's Independent Police Auditor, said: "It makes me angry, but I don't see any way around it."
Some departments have moved to fire or discipline officers before their criminal cases are resolved. But these usually involve cases where the evidence against the police officer is more clear-cut, such as a drunken driving charge.
More complex and serious cases require a more measured and cautious response, experts and police say.
And disciplining an officer who is later acquitted can lead to expensive lawsuits.
The Oakland Police Department learned that lesson during one of the Bay Area's most high profile police brutality cases, known as the Riders case. Three officers were charged with the kidnapping, assault and false arrest of suspected drug dealers in West Oakland in 2000, but were either acquitted or the cases ended in a mistrial. One officer settled a lawsuit against the city for more than $1.5 million.
In San Jose, Williams was placed on administrative leave on Jan. 1, 2006, and remained there until his conviction Aug. 5 in Santa Cruz, according to police records. He was sentenced Monday to two years in prison.
Attorney Larry Peterson, who defended Williams during the administrative hearing, said the department interviewed the officer in February, but waited for a verdict before it took action.
"Kenny has a wonderful reputation on the police department," Peterson said "I don't think anybody actually believed the allegations. I get a feeling the department said, 'Wait a minute, this is not the Ken we know.' "
It was unclear this week if Williams' pension will be at risk, but he was apparently earning credit during the 2½ years he stayed home.
Pensions can be taken away if an officer commits treason or is convicted of a felony. But Ken Heredia, vice chairman of the San Jose Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan Board, said he was unaware of an example in which a pension had been withdrawn under those circumstances. There may be some questions about the legality of such an action, Heredia said.
When asked if he regretted paying so much money and not getting any service from an officer for so long, Chief Rob Davis replied: "To be quite candid what concerns me is that there is a victim of a crime committed by a former officer. I'm more concerned about the victim and her family."
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