Spotlight: City Contracts for Off-Duty Police

Mesa PD investigates problems with pay, allegations of collusion

Posted: May 01, 2017 11:28 PM Updated: May 01, 2017 11:43 PM

By Derek Stahl
MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) The City of Mesa is investigating allegations of misconduct and collusion surrounding its police department. The allegations stem from the selection of a vendor that has struggled to pay police officers for off-duty work in uniform.

Three Valley business owners filed a formal complaint with the city last week raising questions about the selection of Extra Duty, LLC. The complaint alleges the owner of Extra Duty, Anthony Rojas, “conspired” with an assistant police chief to secure the contract even though Rojas lacked proper licensing, insurance and financial backing.
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“Right now, Mesa officers are being compromised,” said Heather Mulligan of Valley Police Specialists, LLC, one of the three owners who filed the complaint.
The city awarded an exclusive contract to Extra Duty in late December to coordinate all requests from private companies seeking Mesa officers for security or traffic control. These requests are common from malls, banks, event managers and other businesses that want uniformed police officers on premises. Officers pick up these shifts while off-duty from their normal police work.
Previously, the police department handled these requests internally but sought an outside vendor for 2017 to make the process more efficient, said Mesa police spokesperson Sgt. Diana Williams.
It’s been a rocky start. Transitioning the process to Extra Duty took three months longer than originally expected, records show, and a number of officers complained the company did not pay them on time.
A union representing Mesa police officers sent Extra Duty a letter March 23 threatening to “forward this matter to our attorneys” if the company didn’t correct its payroll problems.
“They’ve never done this work before. They didn’t even know they needed a security license,” said another complainant, Bonnie Lucas of Law Enforcement Specialists, Inc.
Sgt. Williams downplayed the early troubles, saying the department had noticed errors by both employees and Extra Duty regarding payroll. 
“This is common and expected when a new system is implemented,” she said. 
Extra Duty began placing officers in March. To date, 311 of the department’s 805 officers, lieutenants and sergeants are registered with the company, she said.
Allegations of "collusion"
Rojas secured the contract with Mesa less than a year after forming Extra Duty, LLC. Records show he co-founded a different security services company, Sofnet, LLC in 2010 with current Mesa police Lt. Christopher Withrow.