\u201cWe\u2019re dedicating a staggering portion of our staff into the resort area,\u201d he said during the Oct. 28 council meeting. \u201cAnaheim police officers willingly make sacrifices to keep this city safe. But when an understaffed department must continuously cover resort demands through mandatory overtime, those sacrifices multiply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Police Department reported that it had a record 430 sworn positions last year \u2014 up from 408 five years prior. Union leadership, however, has argued that staffing levels remain insufficient in Orange County\u2019s most populous city and that overtime is required to compensate, particularly in the bustling Resort District.<\/p>\n
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An Anaheim PD internal review of Resort Policing Team overtime hours has led to competing tort claims filed with the city. <\/p>\n
(Eric Licas)<\/p>\n
Lee claimed that Anaheim police officers worked more than 90,000 hours at the Disneyland Resort in 2024. He personally logged almost 2,000 overtime hours that year \u2014 an average of about 37.5 hours a week on top of his regular, 40-hour schedule.<\/p>\n
Disney, according to the claim, allegedly pressured Lee through the command staff to curb overtime for officers not meeting the alleged arrest quotas. <\/p>\n
Disneyland officials denied the existence of arrest quotas and noted that officers are under the command of the APD, not the resort. <\/p>\n
Anaheim city spokesperson Mike Lyster declined to answer questions about the overtime controversy and whether the city followed up on the internal review. <\/p>\n
\u201cOut of respect for all involved, we won\u2019t be engaging at this level of detail on matters of staffing, scheduling, operations and personnel,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
He also declined to provide how much Disney spends reimbursing the city for police overtime.<\/p>\n
Police officers logging substantial overtime hours is not a new issue in California, but reports of extra work leading to enormous pay have recently resurfaced. <\/p>\n
An Oakland Police lieutenant made $711,000 in 2024 with nearly a half-million of that sum coming from overtime, according to Oaklandside<\/a>. The city of San Diego and Santa Barbara County have reckoned with the issue<\/a> in the face of bulging payrolls.<\/p>\n In Anaheim, Disney is a key stakeholder in police overtime pay. Its contract with the city lays out a standard 40-hour workweek for officers in the resort area, but recognizes the need for a fluctuating schedule.<\/p>\n Concerning pay, Anaheim provides Disney with a monthly invoice detailing the days and hours, including overtime, worked by the Resort Policing Team. Disney holds the right to question Anaheim about \u201cunclear or disputed\u201d invoices and can request a reassignment of officers in writing \u2014 at the police chief\u2019s discretion.<\/p>\n According to timesheets obtained by TimesOC, Lee racked up 195 overtime hours in August 2024 \u2014 the most for any single month reviewed \u2014 in addition to 152 full-time hours. He worked an average of 87 hours a week with seven days off, a schedule that paid nearly $36,000 that month alone.<\/p>\n In April, Lee worked 170 hours over 14 consecutive days, according to city records. \u201cAbsent emergency operations,\u201d the department limits hours worked to 16 hours in one day, 30 hours in a two-day period and 84 hours in a week. Lee\u2019s timesheets appear to routinely exceed the two-day limit and, on occasion, surpass the weekly cap. <\/p>\n Lee also logged a handful of part-time hours on several occasions followed by substantial overtime in a single day. He reported working just two full-time hours and 14 overtime hours on June 9, 2024, a 16-hour day that paid him almost $1,900.<\/p>\n On June 21, 2024, Duran reported having worked 10 hours full-time and 14 overtime hours, a shift that accounted for all hours in a day. On four more occasions between 2024 and 2025, his regular and overtime shifts appeared to exceed the 16-hour daily cap. <\/p>\n In April that year, Duran racked up 150 hours of overtime paying $15,153.76.<\/p>\n Duran and Lee, who resigned as vice president last month, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did another union leader who was asked to speak on their behalf.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, officers can only work overtime if its approved by a supervisor. The police union contract in place at the time states that \u201call overtime must be authorized by the appropriate division head,\u201d meaning officers cannot just decide independently that they are working more.<\/p>\n An Anaheim Police Department spokesperson did not respond to questions about who signed off on the Resort Policing Team\u2019s hours or how much it cost.<\/p>\n Former Anaheim Police Chief Rick Armendariz directed command staff to review Lee and Duran\u2019s overtime practices.<\/p>\n (James Carbone)<\/p>\n According to Glenn\u2019s claim, Armendariz tasked him and Lt. Shane Carringer with evaluating the team due to a trio of concerns, including \u201covertime practices.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether the review stemmed from any Disney invoice dispute. <\/p>\n The command staff officers concluded that \u201cpotential overtime misuse,\u201d including but not limited to Lee and Duran, \u201cresulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n Carringer and Glenn, according to the claim, asserted that there were irregularities surrounding overtime assignments and reporting practices that could signal \u201ctimesheet manipulation.\u201d<\/p>\n What those irregularities, if any, were remains unclear. Carringer could not be reached for comment. Glenn and his attorney declined to speak publicly about the claim.<\/p>\n In Lee\u2019s claim \u2014 which makes no mention of the internal review \u2014 he positioned himself as a victim of retaliation that unjustly \u201chalved\u201d his take home pay \u2014 a reference to the loss of overtime.<\/p>\n Lee, who first became Resort Policing Team supervisor in 2022, described his promotion as one that is \u201ca lifelong appointment, highly sought after within the department and greatly increases an officer\u2019s earning potential as it grants preferential access to overtime while working at the Disney Resort.\u201d<\/p>\n But the following year, Lee alleges in his claim, Mike Chocek, a Disney senior manager and former Fullerton police lieutenant, complained to him about officers not arresting park visitors after finding banned items during screenings.<\/p>\n Lee deemed the \u201czero tolerance\u201d request as an illegal arrest quota and alleged that Carringer instructed him to limit overtime hours for under-performing officers. By May 2025, the relationship between Lee and Carringer soured, according to the claim, as Lee refused to discipline officers.<\/p>\n On Dec. 2, the APD transferred Lee from his role supervising the Resort Policing Team weeks after the gate tax failed to get on the ballot. <\/p>\n Lee alleged that his \u201cearning potential suffered dramatically,\u201d as he was banned from working overtime and not allowed on resort property, except for emergencies.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s attorneys do not have a final calculation of his alleged damages from the reassignment and overtime ban, but note in the claim that it exceeds $25,000.<\/p>\n Timesheet records show no December overtime hours for Lee.<\/p>\n By then, Lee\u2019s overtime pay declined substantially in 2025. He collected $137,000 through 11 months. Duran earned slightly more in overtime last year than in 2024. <\/p>\n In his claim, Glenn alleged that the police union retaliated against him after his preliminary review found \u201csignificant anomalies\u201d that resulted in \u201cexcessive overtime payouts.\u201d <\/p>\n City officials redacted details about the alleged retaliation, but Glenn asserted that former City Manager Jim Vanderpool was \u201caware of and involved in the wrongful conduct.\u201d <\/p>\n Vanderpool did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783991348_653_.jpeg\")
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