Report: Chicago Police overtime spending result of ‘wide scale waste and…abuse’

By Brian Seay

CPD management say most of its overtime spending has been “legitimate, reasonable and necessary.” (Photo: Brian Seay/Guns.com)
The Chicago Police Department has spent nearly $100 million a year on officer overtime in the last few years, according to an internal investigation.
In a 73-page report released Tuesday, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson blamed lax oversight of the overtime process for $575 million worth of OT spent since 2011.
“CPD’s management of overtime speaks directly to how inefficient management can lead to wide scale waste and a culture of abuse,” Ferguson said, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Some officers seek out work guaranteed to lead to overtime pay, such as getting involved with drunken driving arrests and then going to court appearances associated with those arrests, according to Ferguson’s report. Dubbed the “DUI guys,” one officer spent nearly two-thirds of the 943 days examined in court. Another officer raked in $336,000 worth of overtime in a two-and-a-half year period. Four other officers earned $250,000 in overtime each.
Last year, the city budgeted $79.6 million for police overtime. The department ended up spending $146 million. This year, $84 million has been appropriated for officer overtime, and Ferguson says the city is on pace to spend roughly $169 million.
“CPD

Source: Guns.com