NEWS
Cost of Audrey case less than expected
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by Joanna Salmen
Thursday, April 8, 2004
After days of calculations, the Madison Police Department has announced the total cost of the Audrey Seiler case to the department is $55,000, significantly less than previously expected.
At the beginning of the week, it was speculated the case would cost more than $75,000. However, after all officers involved in the case turned in their overtime slips, the cost was calculated to be much lower.
The figure includes $54,000 of police overtime and benefits and $1,000 of miscellaneous costs.
In addition to the $55,000 cost to the police department, $41,000 was spent paying officers and detectives to work on the Seiler case. This number was already budgeted for and is therefore not included in the additional money the case cost.
However, this number does not include the cost to other outside sources who helped in the case, such as the FBI, the Madison Fire Department, the Wisconsin State Patrol and the sheriff’s office, among others.
“In a perfect world, the city would be reimbursed for all or some of the money,” City Council president Mike Verveer said. “I am not holding my breath.”
It is up to the district attorney for Brian Blanchard to decide whether or not to press charges against Seiler and try to recover some of the cost of the investigation that proved to be a hoax.
Verveer said if Blanchard does choose to press charges, there is a chance Seiler would be responsible to pay some restitution.
He said the police would likely come up with the money by the end of the year.
Despite the large cost, Verveer said the fact Seiler is safe is what is most important.
“The bottom line is Audrey is safe and with her family,” he said, adding it was still a large amount of money for a hoax. “It is still way too much money for a joke.”
Verveer applauded the work of the Madison police and said they handled the case and the pressure of the national media fairly well, noting the department took the case seriously from the very first day Seiler disappeared through the massive man hunt in search of Seiler’s non-existent abductor.
“We are ably served by one of the best police departments in the country,” he said.
