by Nick Delgado

Guam - The Guam Police Department made the deadline this week to respond to the U.S. Department of Labor regarding a $50,000 civil fine for not paying officers overtime last fiscal year. Chief of Police Captain Fred Bordallo says they sent in the letter to avoid from having to pay any penalties and requested for an administrative hearing.

GPD owes more than $200,000 in overtime to more than 200 of its officers for Fiscal Year 2010. While the top brass says they are not ignoring the overtime issue, he admits it's unrealistic to maintain overtime payments. "The previous 2010, and it goes all the way back to 2002 and 2004, the GPD budget has always been under funded in terms of monies or funds that have been budgeted for us in overtime," he explained.

Bordallo could not say how soon they would be able to pay the overdue OT, however, he says they are hoping to start a payment plan to pay off the federal fine.