One of the LAPD's most productive homicide investigators sat idle for six weeks, unable to follow any leads on old cases or pick up new ones. Kouri was not being punished for misconduct or for botching an investigation. He was benched for working too hard -- and he is not the only one.
With the city reeling from its worst financial crisis in decades, the LAPD has stopped paying officers overtime wages, except in rare situations. In lieu of cash, officials have implemented a strict policy of forcing cops to take time off when they accrue large amounts of overtime hours. Because of demanding work schedules that routinely require them to investigate a case into the night or through the weekend, homicide detectives have been among the first officers to be sent home in significant numbers.
The drain on homicide squads has hampered investigations, several detectives and top department officials said in interviews. Detectives said their investigations are frequently put on hold while they take days off, delaying witness interviews and other potentially important leads. And, in the crucial first hours after a killing, several supervisors said they now dispatch fewer detectives to the crime scene.
A rash of homicides in recent weeks has compounded the problem, placing increased strain on detectives already running up against overtime limits and leaving homicide supervisors to worry that a prolonged surge in killings will quickly overwhelm the stop-gap measures they are currently using to get by.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has used the rise in killings to underscore his frequent warnings to city lawmakers that further cuts to the department's budget would continue to compromise its ability to fight crime.
"The hours have to come from someplace," Beck said last week at a meeting with the Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the department. "It has a serious impact on our ability to respond to some of the large, violent incidents we've been experiencing lately. That is especially true of homicide investigations because of the long hours they demand."
In past years, the LAPD typically spent about $100 million in overtime. The department is planning to set aside less than $10 million for the upcoming fiscal year to cover certain work scenarios mandated under federal labor laws.
Before the city's fiscal crisis, an agreement between the department and police union called for officers to build up a bank of about 100 hours of overtime and then be paid cash for hours worked beyond that. Late last year, the department renegotiated the agreement and now officers are not paid until they have accrued 400 hours of extra work. To make sure no officer reaches that trigger point, the department's new policy forbids them from banking more than 250 hours.
In the Southeast Division, where Kouri works, the 11-person homicide squad was ordered to take off 700 hours in February -- a month when they opened five new investigations. The same group responded to five killings last February, but worked 500 hours of overtime to solve them.
Nine of the 14 killings this year in the Southeast area remain unsolved.
