Shreveport Police Officer Facing Serious Charges Today

A Shreveport police officer is facing serious charges today. 51-year-old James Cisco is charged with felony wire fraud charges. He is suspected of claiming overtime and getting paid for hours he did not work. U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown says a federal grand jury has indicted Cisco on six counts of wire fraud.

What Is the SPD Officer Accused of Doing?

The indictment alleges Cisco knowingly devised a scheme to defraud the City of Shreveport out of money which was for overtime pay for SPD officers. Cisco is suspected of using this scheme for at least a year, beginning in January 2020.
Cisco is also suspected of submitting false reports to SPC claiming he worked overtime hours under the Community-Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) Grant. He signed off on documents certifying he worked the hours. The indictment also accuses Cisco of submitting falsified reports. Evidence reportedly shows the SPD mobile device assigned to him was in East Texas during hour he claimed to be working overtime for the department.

The indictment also shows that on at least five other incidents, Cisco submitted documents saying he worked overtime hours when he was actually working at an off-duty job for another company at the same time.

The Community-Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) Program is administered by the Department of Justice with the goal of reducing crime and improving community safety in distressed, high-crime neighborhoods. As part of the program, CBCR awards grants to local and tribal communities to be used for overtime for police officers. The City of Shreveport received a CBCR award grant which was used in 2020 to pay for officers with the SPD to work overtime details and provided officers with 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for overtime hours worked.

Cisco is currently on leave, according to SPD. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.