City will pay K-9 officers $300,000

Jenny Marder

A six-year dispute over how much time it takes to care for a dog each

day ended with the city agreeing to pay four police officers

$300,000.

In 1998, a group of police officers claimed that they spent at

least an hour every day washing, feeding, walking and training the

dogs and wanted to be paid accordingly. City officials argued that 20

minutes was plenty of time.

After six years of litigation, the city and the police officers

agreed to settle this month. The four police officers were awarded

$195,000 in back pay and liquidated damages, as well as $275,000 in

attorneys fees, Assistant City Atty. Scott Field said.

The dispute began in 1998, when the officers claimed that they

were entitled to overtime pay for home care of the dogs, which are

trained to detect narcotics, weapons and bombs.

“The city paid [the officers] for 20 minutes a day to care for the

dogs,” Field said. “They claimed they were spending over an hour

caring for the dogs per day in terms of feeding the dogs, cleaning

feces, watering the dogs, brushing the dogs, stuff like that. The

chief issue was whether or not the pay that they received was

reasonable.”

Russ Reinhart, a former K-9 officer and president of the police

officer’s association, said that in addition to standard care,

officers were required to put time into obedience and search training

for the dogs. Officers made several settlement offers to the city

over the years, but none were accepted, Reinhart said.

“We made offers to settle for even less than what we’re getting

now,” Reinhart said. “It was a small dispute that should have been

worked out and never ended up in court.”

The new contract compensates officers for 30 minutes a day of

caring for the animals, with overtime available if needed.

“We thought our agreement was very reasonable,” Field said.

Mayor Cathy Green said she is relieved that the dispute is ending.

“I’m glad the lawsuit’s over, and I’m glad everything is

resolved,” Green said. “I hate for the city to be at odds. You never

want people that work for you and with you to feel that upset or

angry or hostile.”