APD's $200,000 Man; PIO Made $146,000 So Far This Year

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a response from APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos.

- PIO Simon Drobik is a patrolman first class who is on track to make $200K this year.

- Drobik would have to be working 100 hours a week

- Is he working 60 hours of overtime every week?

- Hourly rate of pay is $31.50

The Albuquerque Police Department appears to have a superman, or at least a human robot, on its payroll—a man who works 100 hours a week and who appears to need only a few hours of sleep each and every day.

That alleged superman is APD public information officer Simon Drobik, a patrolman first class who makes $31.50 an hour and who has racked up $146,294 in pay through the first nine months of the year, according to city payroll records.

(Photo: APD's $200,000 man Simon Drobik)

That $146,000 that Drobik has made so far this year is more than the $120,974 that Police Chief Mike Geier has made through the first nine months of the year and almost $50,000 more than what Deputy Chief Eric Garcia has made.

At this rate, Drobik is on pace to make $200,000 for the year. That's right, $200,000 for a patrolman.

Based on his hourly rate of pay, which was $28 an hour before July 1, and a $1,000-a-month longevity pay that kicked in on July 1, Drobik's pay should be around $48,500 for the year so far. So it appears that Drobik has made nearly $100,000 in overtime. That works out to 60 hours a week in overtime. And if you count Drobik's regular 40 hour week, he appears to be working an average of 100 hours each and every week.

There are 168 hours in a week, so if Drobik is working at least 100 hours every week he has only 68 hours of free time every week. Divide that by seven days and Drobik has nine hours a day to eat, bathe, get to and from work, shop and do other things each and every day, and he's been doing it for nine months now.

ABQReport sent APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos an email on Monday afternoon asking for an explanation of how Drobik has been able to make $146,000 so far this year. Here is Gallegos' response:

"Officer Drobik has historically worked overtime, doing duty as a master patrolman and as a uniformed Public Information Officer, often working 7 days a week. When the new administration took over, we advertised for a full-time, uniformed PIO to help carry the workload, but no other officers expressed interest. We appreciate that Officer Drobik stepped up and continues to do patrol work in addition to PIO duties. We are cognizant of the need to reduce overtime in the department. With the influx of new recruits and lateral officers being hired, we plan on filling many positions where we currently rely on overtime to cover essential services. Officer Drobik has agreed to serve as the full-time PIO during weekdays as his primary assignment."

But Drobik isn't APD's only human robot. Seventeen APD officers have made more than $100,000 through the first nine months of the year, according to city records. All but four of them are patrol officers who are making $31.50 and $30 an hour. And they appear to be working more overtime hours than is humanly possible.

How is this possible? Who knows.

We have to remind people that former APD officer James Geha was indicted earlier this month for time card fraud while he was employed by APD. Geha is alleged to have bilked the city out of $13,000 through the fraud.

Here's another way to break down Drobik's astounding amount of pay so far this year:

Since most of his wages this year were at $28 / hour, is it humanly possible for Drobik to make this much?

From January through September (40 hours per week, 160 per month) there would be a total of 1440 work hours. At $28 per hour, which is what Drobik earned from January to July and then $31.50 from July to September.

January 1 to June 30 work hours total (half a year)= 1,040 hours. At $28 per hour that would amount to $29,120

July 1 to September 30 = 520 hours. At $31.50 that would amount to $16,308

Longevity pay was kicked up to $1,000 per month in July = $3,000

So Drobik should be around $48,500. Of course this doesn’t include overtime but how much overtime does he work? Is it humanly possible for Drobik to work $100,000 in overtime in the first nine months of the year?