By Erica C. Barnett

Ron Willis, a Seattle police officer who received a one-day suspension in 2021 after the Seattle Times reported on his excessive overtime claims, has received another unpaid suspension—this time, for 90 hours—for violating the exact same policy. According to disciplinary records obtained by PubliCola, Willis reported working 133 hours in a single week, including 93 hours of overtime, plus 10 hours of vacation. SPD policy prohibits officers from working more than 90 hours a week.

A disciplinary report signed by Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr in September says the chief decided to double the suspension recommended by a disciplinary committee “to ensure you get the message, unequivocally, that if you violate the work-hour maximums policy again, you should be prepared to receive serious discipline, up to and including termination.”

In an appeal to the city’s Public Safety Civil Service Commission, Willis called the 90-hour suspension “excessive” and requested a lighter punishment.

According to the Office of Police Accountability, Willis was paid for 143 hours (including 10 hours of vacation time, which don’t count toward the 90-hour limit) between November 11 and November 18, 2023. Willis reported working 19 hours a day on six consecutive days during that period, leaving just five hours a day to sleep, eat, or do anything else.

The new violations came just days after Willis violated a number of different policies by failing to respond to a Priority 1 domestic violence call from a woman screaming for help while a man was beating her “bloody.” Willis received a four-day suspension for that violation, appealed, and was suspended for three days, the disciplinary report notes.

Willis admitted to OPA that he had violated the policy against excessive overtime, according to the OPA summary of the case. But according to a Rahr’s disciplinary report, Willis seemed unrepentant, telling investigators “that the policy was not regularly enforced, and that many supervisors had a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ preference regarding it, because staffing was so low.”

Willis made nearly $415,000 in 2019 and has $362,000 in 2022, making him one of the highest-paid SPD employees. His base salary is around $160,000.

According to Rahr’s report, Willis implausibly claimed he “got 5.5 hours of sleep even when you were working 19 hours a day six days in a row, and you told me that’s all the sleep you need. You denied ‘sleepwalking’ through your shifts, cited your nearly thirty years with the Department, and noted your previous military career—which you suggested might explain your ability to function without as much sleep as most people need. You argued that you were being singled out for violating the 90-hour limit, when others had also violated the policy and not been punished, although you declined to provide specifics.”

The report continues:

It is not possible to get five-and-a-half hours of sleep in-between 19-hour workdays as you claim you did (the maximum would be five hours). But even if you did go directly to the bunkroom or to your car to sleep immediately upon completing your 19 hours of work every time, I disagree that this would have been sufficient. Rather, it still would have created a safety issue, both for you and for the community we serve. All the scientific research I have seen suggests that sleep-deprived people function similarly to intoxicated people2 and you did not present me with any contradictory evidence. You claimed that you are unique and can function on very little sleep. I am not convinced that you are able to function consistently and safely on less than 5 hours of sleep between working 6-consecutive 19-hours shifts. You are placing yourself, and those who depend on you at risk.

Last year, SPD’s overtime spending ballooned 46 percent, to $57 million, SPD budget director Andrea Socci told the city council’s budget committee in October. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s budget proposal would boost overtime spending even further, adding another $10 million for police to conduct “emphasis patrols” in and around downtown Seattle.

Back in 2016, the city auditor found major shortcomings in SPD’s overtime system, including a lack of oversight into how much overtime officers report and whether they’re violating department policy. That report led to some reforms, but SPD still hasn’t completed a key recommendation: Creating an automated system to monitor overtime and flag timesheets when officers go over the maximum amount. SPD’s proposed 2025 budget includes $1.9 million for timekeeping software that SPD says will improve overtime tracking, but it’s unclear whether the new software will fulfill the auditor’s recommendation that SPD put “automated controls in place to catch overtime errors and non-compliance with overtime policies.”

Willis was caught abusing the overtime policy after a lieutenant reported him to OPA. The PSCSC has not scheduled his appeal hearing yet, and the agency’s director declined to comment on the ongoing case.

SPD has not responded to questions about its overtime tracking policies sent on Tuesday morning, but we’ll update this post when we hear back.