Waste of the Day: Overtime Pay Leads to Scandal at NYPD

Topline: Lieutenant Quathisha Epps worked a desk job at the New York City Police Department this year, but her $400,000 in earnings was more than every other officer, including the commissioner.

An NYPD lieutenant games the overtime pay system

The high pay was allegedly arranged by Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who Epps told the New York Post “demanded sexual favors” in exchange for overtime hours.

Epps retired early in December after the Post first broke news about her salary. Maddrey resigned on Dec. 20, hours before the Post’s report on his alleged role was published.

Key facts: Epps earned a base salary of $164,477 plus $204,453 in overtime, for a total of $403,515 in fiscal year 2024, the Post reported. Records showed she somehow logged 1,627 hours of overtime, or 74 hours per week on top of her normal shifts.

Epps claimed Maddrey started asking for sexual favors in June 2023, when he was promoted from Chief of Patrol, the Post reported. But Maddrey was “generous” with overtime since 2021, allegedly paying Epps to go apartment hunting and buy household items for other police officers, she told the Post.

Epps’ earnings have steadily increased for years, according to data at OpenTheBooks.com.

In 2023, she earned $114,210 in overtime — more than all but 13 others in the police force — for a total pay of $277,444. In 2022, Epps took home a total of $204,659, with almost $50,000 in overtime.

Maddrey made $292,069 in 2024, according to the Post, and $245,000 the year before, per OpenTheBooks. He has denied all wrongdoing.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Mayor Adams gamed the system, too

Background: Maddrey’s resignation wrapped up a year of turmoil for New York’s top officials.

OpenTheBooks previously quantified the $13.3 million taxpayers spent in 10 years on salary for Mayor Eric Adams and the 13 other officials questioned in his alleged bribery scandal.

Many of the same officials received salary raises this year adding up to $400,000, the New York Daily News later reported.

The NYPD paid out a total of $867.3 million in overtime in 2023, according to OpenTheBooks.com.

Summary: We often see extravagant overtime spending in police departments all around the country, and clearly a payout that more than doubles an officer’s base pay should be questioned.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RCI and made available via RealClearWire.