By Joanna Putman
Police1
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Police Department is predicted to spend nearly $5 million over its annual budget in overtime pay, KSTP reported.
Chief Brian O’Hara presented the budget to the city council Monday and asked that next year’s budget properly accommodate that spending.
“Today, our staffing level per capita is among the lower ones of all major U.S. cities,” O’Hara told the council.
Chief O’Hara said that keeping officers on the force is a struggle, given that “they’ve watched 40% of their colleagues walk out the door over the last three years.”
Public Health and Safety Committee Chair LaTrisha Vetaw said she anticipated difficulties getting past the “sticker shock” of adding $5 million to next year’s overtime and event staffing budget, but that it was necessary to keep officers on patrol, according to the report.
“The reality is that’s where we are in Minneapolis. We’re paying to have officers on the street,” Vetaw said.
Minneapolis officers have worked 265,000 overtime hours this year, which is 50,000 more hours than in 2022 and 150,000 more hours than in 2019, according to data presented by the police department’s finance director.
Data from the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis showed that while Minneapolis is the largest city in the state, it ranks 10th in police officer pay, according to the report.
“That’s not acceptable,” Vetaw said. “And if we’re saying we want the best, if we’re saying we want to really rethink how our police department operates … we have to be the top paid police department.”