Monday, October 27, 2008

Officer Michael Hennessy Files Lawsuit Against City

A Fort Lauderdale police officer who alleges the department has a quota system rewarding officers for making arrests filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city late Monday.

Michael Hennessy, 52, is seeking back pay and the reinstatement of benefits he lost as a result of not reaching his ''performance standards,'' including no take-home car, overtime or off-duty details.

The lawsuit filed in Broward Circuit Court claims that two shift captains created a scheme to inflate arrest statistics -- often by arresting the homeless on misdemeanors -- and rewarded high-producing officers with off-the-books, paid days off.

The accusations were reported Monday by The Miami Herald.

William Amlong, an attorney representing Hennessy, said the quota system is dangerous.

''It's really making the community less safe because it is taking police officers away from their jobs on patrol,'' he said. ``This is both invading the rights of the homeless, who should not be victimized, and wasting taxpayer money.''

Fort Lauderdale police launched an investigation in July to look into Hennessy's claims after he filed a complaint to administrators.

The city is conducting a separate investigation.

Neither a department nor city spokesman would comment on the lawsuit Monday.

Hennessy, a patrol officer for nearly 23 years, claims that he was reprimanded in August for failing to meet his quotas -- one ticket per day and one arrest per month. He said a supervisor banned him from taking home his squad car and working overtime and off-duty details -- and threatened to fire him ''for having low statistics,'' the suit said.

Hennessy contends that over the past year, supervisors in the north district -- which includes parts of the beach, businesses along Federal Highway and the executive airport -- have implemented schemes to boost arrest and ticket numbers.

Among them: A ''scavenger hunt'' to see which officer could make the most arrests in and around Holiday Park, an area frequented by the homeless. The winning officer was rewarded with a $50 gift certificate to the movies, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit also claims that a point system was created to entice officers to increase productivity.

An officer earned 10 points for an arrest, five for issuing a notice to appear, three for filling out a field interrogation card and one for writing a ticket. Earn 70 points in one week and get a day off, unapproved by the city.

Hennessy said officers who took the time off were marked on schedules as being on-duty, but unavailable for service. Other officers were called in to replace them, potentially costing the city more than $460 in overtime pay per person, the lawsuit states.

Hennessy hopes the legal action brings about change.

''It's fraud. It's theft,'' Hennessy said. ``It needs to stop.''

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