San Francisco police officers are being forced to work overtime due to a decline in new hires, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Chronicle also reported that police overtime pay has skyrocketed over the past three years while staffing at the department has declined.
“City law limits the total number of overtime hours that full-time city employees can work in a fiscal year to 520, but allows the city’s human resources director to increase the overtime cap for a particular department in exceptions granted due to ‘serious staffing shortages.'” The Chronicle reported..
San Francisco police officers are being forced to work overtime due to a decline in new hires, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (Getty)
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A police union spokesman said the department’s overtime limit has been raised repeatedly over the past few years and is now at 2,000 hours, with more overtime allowed under certain circumstances.
A San Francisco police sergeant earned more than $400,000 in overtime, the highest amount for a city employee since 2013, according to the Chronicle.
“The number of officers making more than $100,000 in overtime more than tripled from 131 in the July 2021-June 2022 fiscal year to 493 in the July 2023-June 2024 fiscal year,” the Chronicle reported.
Additionally, the Chronicle added that studies have shown that working overtime shifts can lead to poorer officer performance.
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The president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association issued a stern warning about increasing overtime hours for officers.
Split image of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and a police badge. (Getty Images)
Tracy McCray said it was “an unsustainable necessary evil that needs to be addressed immediately.”
“If we don’t want to make catastrophic cuts to police services, the city must either solve its staffing problems or operate a police department that works overtime,” McCray said. “Most officers would rather use their days off and scheduled vacations to spend time with their families and loved ones than work countless overtime hours.”
San Francisco police did not respond to a request for comment.
The report came after the San Francisco City Board of Supervisors passed a bill to address police staffing shortages. The measure, known as Proposition B, would mandate minimum staffing levels funded through unspecified new or revised taxes.
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In February, The Chronicle was scathing. San Francisco officials denounced the measure as “ridiculously complicated.”
the town’s Police shortage, The Chronicle wrote that the city needs more police officers.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is among mayors across the nation who have cut police budgets in 2020. Diverting $120 million from law enforcement agencies To fund other city initiatives.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is one of many mayors across the nation who decided to cut the police budget in 2020, freeing up $120 million from law enforcement to fund other city initiatives. (KTVU)
The city has increased spending on the police force since then, but the department is still nearly 600 officers short, with only 75 percent of the officers it needs to keep up with the workload. The city announced in April 2023.
