Sacramento Police release over 40 reserve officers following a CalPERS compliance audit.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 40 reserve officers with the Sacramento Police Department have been released following a CalPERS audit that raised compliance issues with how the city was employing them.
The audit found that the City of Sacramento did not follow state rules for rehiring retired officers to part-time positions. Among the violations listed were retirees working too many hours, being paid outside approved ranges, or not waiting the required break time before being rehired.
“There are some people that are really heartbroken right now,” said Dustin Smith with the Sacramento Police Officers Association. “We’re talking about individuals that have spent 40, almost 50 years working for the City of Sacramento and giving to this community.”
That includes reserve officers like Joe Wagstaff, who served the community for more than four decades before being let go this week.
“Very unprofessional to not know the laws of the State of California when you’re operating a city and hiring and firing employees,” Wagstaff said. “You need to know the the rules for for that.”
In a statement to ABC10, Sacramento Police and the City of Sacramento said in part:
“We were first made aware in March that an audit was underway, but it was not until last week that we received information requiring us to separate from these individuals.
At this time, we are still working with City Human Resources to determine how the work previously performed by retired annuitants will be addressed, and we do not yet have details on what the impact will be to staffing.”
Union leaders warn the loss of reserve officers could mean fewer services and slower response times.
“We also may have to just cut some of the services we provide. It’s also going to affect things like response times to calls,” Smith said.
He added the sudden cuts take away decades of institutional knowledge.
“We’re going to take away this experience, and I’m talking about hundreds upon hundreds of years of police experience disappearing all in one day, and it’s just going to be very difficult for us to make up for that,” Smith said.
Wagstaff says he’s still in disbelief over the city’s handling of the situation.
“I’d like to see this not happen anywhere else, that the people become more responsible about their their jobs and their positions and take them more seriously,” Wagstaff said.
CalPERS tells ABC10 they are working with the city to resolve the compliance issues. The agency also emphasized, “CalPERS did not prohibit the hiring of any officer and ultimately the city is responsible for their hiring decisions.”
WATCH MORE ON ABC10 | City of Sacramento considering new 4 Homeless sites