AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JULY 2017 31 I t’s always nice to see a cop get a decent pay- check. But the $1 mil- lion that Sarah Lacina just got has nothing to do with the job. Lacina’s a police investiga- tor with the Cedar Rapids Police Department in Iowa and a reality television vet- eran. She recently took the $1 million prize after coming out on top in “Survivor: Game Changers.” This wasn’t the 32-year- old’s first TV rodeo. In fact she vowed that she would approach the chal- lenges of the 34th Survivor competition differently than she did the first time around in 2013. “You have to strike first in this game. I hope you can respect the game play,” Lacina told Cedar Rapids Gazette reporters. Lots of people have never seen the show. But from Lacina’s ac- counts, it’s pretty nasty, down and dirty stuff which makes sense because that’s the nature of so-called “real- ity television.” She said she had to play “like a criminal” and de- velop different personalities like a successful undercover detective. Lying, as it turns out, is a huge part of winning “Survi- vor.” “When I got back after the first time, my co-work- ers were like, ‘Why didn’t you just lie?,’” Lacina told the Gazette in March. “I was afraid I would dishonor our profession as a police officer. Everybody else realized I was playing a game but me. “This isn’t real life. It doesn’t reflect on who you are.” Anyway, if you work with Officer Lacina and you’re short on cash these days, she’s probably got a short term loan for you. People from Iowa seem to do well on “Survivor.” De- nise Stapley of Cedar Rapids won the 25th season. Cedar Rapids Police Officer Sarah Lacina. Contestants participate in survival challenges. To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. – Friedrich Nietzsche Wait, wait, they made how much again last year now? If you read American Police Beat, you’ve seen countless stories about officers in parts of the country where tax revenue is low as well as the pay are forced to seek out public assistance like food stamps. This is not the case if you work for San Francisco Sher- iff Vicki Hennessy. Despite a drop in the number of prison beds she oversees, she’s ordered man- datory overtime for her 840 deputies due to low staffing levels. The good news is that some people are making lots of money. Hennessy’s deputies han- dle security for city build- ings, courts, San Francisco General Hospital and the county’s four jails. Some deputies say the mandatory OT is not good and have complained that they’re already working an extra 12-16 hours per pay cycle. “That’s 60 hours a pay period of overtime, plus you want to take away one of the days off in order to fulfill that. Well, our concern is there’s an officer safety issue. They also have families and they have children; when are they supposed to rest?” Eugene Cerbone, president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association told local reporters with KTVU News. But for those that want the hours, there’s a big pot of gold. Three deputies, who make roughly$102,000beforeOT, earned more than $189,000 in just one year in overtime alone. Deputy Kristian Deje- sus earned $189,300, Dep- uty Barry Bloom earned $234,577 and Deputy Anto- nio Santiago saw $268,942 – and that’s just OT. “It seems like a lot, I agree,” Sheriff Hennessy said. “They are all making more than me, I can assure you, but when I look at it, I think what’s important for the viewers to understand, it’s not costing the city any more money, it’s not cost- ing the taxpayers any more money.” Cop takes Survivor prize Peerless® Handcuff Company Only 5.2 ounces • NIJ Certified • Made in USA www.peerless.net • info@peerless.net • 800.732.3715