SFPD gets approved for an additional $25 million in overtime, money they’ve apparently already been dipping into

It’s good that the SFPD got the extra $25 million in overtime approved by the Supervisory Board on Tuesday, because it looks like they’ve already started spending a lot of extra budget money on overtime.

Last month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed requested another $27.6 million in SFPD overtime pay, which was reviewed by the SFPD Supervisory Board on Tuesday. But the measure they considered was slashed to $25.3 million, which sounds like some sort of financial liability has been accepted.

Not this way! First, Supervisor Asha Safai made an amendment that more than made up for this reduction by asking for an additional $3.1 million in overtime, to $28.4 million. (He withdrew it after learning the whole thing would then go back to the committee and the SFPD wouldn’t get approved for overtime for a few weeks.) But more surprisingly, we’ve learned that the SFPD is already spending unapproved extra money on overtime. with Chief Dean Preston notes that last December the SFPD went over its overtime budget by $22 million, “even before the mayor filed or submitted an additional [budget] request.”

So it was lucky for the SFPD that the executives approved this $25.3 million overtime payment by a 9-2 vote, and only Preston and Supervisor Shamann Walton voted against because the department had been spending that overtime without approval for months.

Most of the board members easily voted “yes” because of the recent high-profile crimes. “The public wants and deserves to feel safe in San Francisco, but in fact it is not,” Supervisor Katherine Stefani said ahead of the vote. “There are not enough officers. I had three armed robberies of the Palace of Fine Arts, we had a man who was just horribly beaten in the Marina. It’s not just my area, it’s everywhere.”

But Preston, as mentioned above, stormed into the department, stating that they had “wildly overspent their already increased budget and now want financial assistance with additional raises, bonuses and unlimited overtime, much of which will go to protect luxury retail stores.” and tourists. ”

“We have fewer calls per officer, longer response times and lower disclosure rates,” he added. “Together, these facts should encourage policy makers and all of us to think about what’s going on and condition funding on some improvements.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a former SFPD officer and generally a reliable voice on police spending, voted in favor of the measure, but also warned against the habit of wasting overtime.

“I don’t think that’s the way to run government,” Dorsey said ahead of the vote. “This is not the way to run a world-class city. When we rely on overtime, let’s be honest – we’re spending more money on less police work.”

Connected: Mayor seeks additional $27.6M to cover SFPD overtime costs amid crackdown on drug trade and petty crime [SFist]

Screenshot via SFGov.TV