Guam Police Department criticized for high executive security overtime

The Guam Police Department is dealing with the latest in a long line of time and attendance issues, according to the Pacific Daily News.

Recently released records offered insight into the U.S. unincorporated territory's overtime employee attendance expenditures, revealing that the police department spent more than $150,000 on security for Governor Eddie Calvo, his lieutenant governor and their wives.

Troy Torres, a spokesman for the governor's office, said the overtime accrued by officers protecting executive security was a symptom of understaffing in the department and could not be helped.

"When the force is spread that thin, overtime becomes unavoidable," Torres said, as quoted by the news source. "Unless laws change regarding ... what constitutes as overtime, these costs are unavoidable if we are to keep the island's governor and lieutenant governor safe."

Earlier this year, the GPD chief requested at least $300,000 more in funding to cover this fiscal year's overtime costs, according to the news source.