FROM THE OFFICE OF MAYOR R.T. RYBAK:

Improving the management of police overtime has been a priority for the Mayor and MPD. As the Mayor has said before, it is clear that our police overtime budget has not been realistic. As the city has wrestled to ensure that the police department budget reflects reality, we have come face-to-face with the complicated issue of overtime. While we know there is a need to better manage police overtime and Chief Dolan has done that, the solutions are not simple or straightforward.

At times, police overtime is a necessary and important tool our officers need. In the hours and days immediately following a homicide, it is imperative that a team of two investigators works around the clock to collect evidence and interview witnesses in order to solve the case and find the suspected perpetrators as quickly as possible. This overtime can’t be cut.

Other times, police overtime is used as a blunt tool, the costs of which more than diminish any public safety benefit. For example, when officers use several hours of overtime to appear in court for a $75 fine they issued, it is not a productive use of resources. These types of cases can and are being better managed and the Mayor applauds the police department’s effort to get on top of this issue.

While the city improves the management of overtime and adheres to stricter guidelines for overtime, it is also clear that there were not enough resources for overtime in the police budget. That’s why the Mayor added $800,000 more for overtime in the 2008 police budget to better reflect this reality.

As Minneapolis responded to the up-tick in crime over the last few years, the Mayor asked our police to do more than they were truly able to do with their budget. The Mayor admits that the City did not adequately build into the budget enough resources to respond to spikes in crime traditionally experienced during summer. The mayor believes that we need to have accountability with honest, transparent budgeting, which is what he is doing.

Jeremy Hanson
Communications Director
Office of Mayor R.T. Rybak