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Metro Council to address WBRZ report on officers' extra duty while on department leave

7 years 2 months 1 week ago Wednesday, October 04 2017 Oct 4, 2017 October 04, 2017 12:20 PM October 04, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE – Calls for oversight of the Baton Rouge Police Department grew Wednesday, nearly a week after a WBRZ Investigative Unit report found officers on leave were able to accrue extra duty pay.

Typically, officers on leave for some reason are not allowed to work as a police officer though WBRZ found they had been paid by the extra duty office during the time they were off duty from the force. Among the officers who recorded extra duty pay was Blane Salamoni, the officer who is tied to the shooting death of Alton Sterling.

The police department acknowledged officers found a loophole and the issue was resolved when WBRZ began researching the story.

     > MORE: The original WBRZ report is posted HERE

"After the public information request was filed by y'all, we looked into the incidents involving officers working extra duty while on leave. The investigation revealed these officers worked administratively, running extra duties, calling officers, these were duties they did from their house. "We have since changed the policy,”   Interim Police Chief Jonny Dunnam said in a prior interview with WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto.

Some days later, Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks filed a request to have the issue discussed at an upcoming meeting. Banks specifically wants the department to address Salamoni's work detail. Banks has requested Dunnam appear before the city's governing body.

Also Wednesday, Progressive Social Network, a political and social activist group, released a statement asking for the Baton Rouge Police Department to be more transparent in the wake of the WBRZ report. Along with the group, State Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, called for a state investigation into the matter.

After the initial TV report, the Baton Rouge Police Union posted on its Facebook page some of the ten officers the city identified as working extra duty did so voluntarily. 

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Follow the publisher of this post on Twitter: @treyschmaltz

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