Oakland Protests, Staffing Shortages Send Police Overtime Estimate To $30M
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Oakland's Police Chief says the city has spent $3-million on overtime for his officers covering protests, and the department could spend upwards of $30-million on overtime, despite budgeting just $15-million for this fiscal year.
"Obviously, we're going to exceed the overtime budget for this year," Chief Sean Whent said.
A city of Oakland audit released Tuesday found that since 2010, OPD overtime has skyrocketed nearly 80-percent, from $12-million to $22-million in 2014.
Whent says staffing shortages and a slew of protests have made managing overtime tough.
"It's a balancing act. We have to send officers out to deal with the protests so we don't have the vandalism and looting issues that have cropped up with some of them."
The city could be left with the bill for the department's overtime.
"If there's a shortfall, that money has to come out of the city's general fund," Whent said.