WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — New documents offer details about possible financial problems that led to the recent firing of West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley.
Mayor Keith James asked newly hired Deputy Chief of Police Tony Shearer to review operating procedures for managing and monitoring overtime as well as review officer extra duty detail assignments. Both are listed as "top priorities" in an offer letter WPTV reporter Ethan Stein received after a public records request.
Shearer, a retired FBI agent, was hired in September 2024, according to the document. His start date is listed as Sept. 30, one day before James fired Adderley as part of a "public safety initiative" announcement.
Read below Shearer's offer letter of employment by the city:
James said his rationale for the decision was "financial improprieties" and two specific incidents of police misconduct while announcing Adderley's termination. The former chief said he "unequivocally denied" any involvement in those allegations.
Public record requests revealed that the city has no documents regarding Shearer filing an application for the position or a job posting for the position.
WPTV reached out to the mayor's office, who declined to comment on Shearer's hiring or the possibility of becoming the new chief of police, citing an active investigation. The spokesperson didn't specify the specific investigation.
According to Shearer's LinkedIn profile, he worked at the FBI for more than 19 years and reached the title of Unit Chief and Senior Special Agent before announcing his retirement a month ago. He also said he worked within the city of Cincinnati's Police Department before joining the FBI.
Shearer will make $194,210, according to his contract with the city of West Palm Beach. The amount is more than the previous deputy chief of police made with the city. Shearer is also eligible for a 5% raise after the first six months.
He told WPTV by phone that he looks forward to building a police department to ensure everybody's safety and plans on increasing transparency within the agency.
PAST OVERTIME INVESTIGATIONS
Two different city internal audits looked into overtime payments within the West Palm Beach Police Department over the last four years.
According to the latest report in 2022, it found 27% of officers had numerous instances where they logged work hours for multiple locations at the same time. Internal city auditors found 462.25 overlapping hours leading to a potential overpayment of $19,653.
It said this occurred because vendors are permitted to pay officers directly for hours worked and no requirement exists for vendors to track officer hours paid versus hours worked. Auditors also said this occurred because of the following:
- Systems that do not communicate with one another, thereby making it difficult to flag overlapping hours
- Higher ranking staff that can enter their own hours and do not require approval
- Lack of ongoing reconciliation of total (vendor-paid and city-paid) hours worked
Police management disagreed with the findings. It said there is no conclusive finding that the city sustained a monetary loss and said it might be attributed to undocumented adjustments to detail hours involving third-party vendors.
The 2022 audit was an expansion of a 2020 audit that found "the police department had a significant breakdown of controls and lacked adequate oversight surrounding hours worked by police officers," which resulted in excessive overtime.
Auditors found the agency's overtime budget increased by 215%, which in some cases doubled employees' salaries.
Read more of WPTV's coverage of the West Palm Beach police chief's firing:
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'STANDARDS ... NOT BEING MET': Mayor fires West Palm Beach police chief
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Why the West Palm police chief's dismissal is getting mixed reactions
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