Lieutenants and sergeants approving their own overtime. Officers calling in sick, then working security jobs. Fifteen officers working 80-hour weeks in the past year. These and other revelations were detailed in a damning report released Thursday by the city’s budget and legislative analyst on the San Francisco Police Department’s profligate overtime spending, which jumped 317% over the past five years and reached $108.4 million last year.
“We found a lack of both internal and external accountability for overtime limit violations and excessive overtime at SFPD,” the authors of the audit wrote. “The Department has not taken sufficient steps to enforce its overtime limits, and violations typically do not result in consequences or corrective action.”
In one of the most striking findings, the audit “revealed potential abuse patterns, including frequent sick leave use on specific days of the week … to avoid weekend duties” and sick leave that corresponded with private security details.
“I knew it was bad, but not this bad.”
Supervisor Dean Preston
According to the audit, the SFPD has spent wastefully on overtime, in some cases possibly fraudulently, with little to no oversight, to the detriment of neighborhood station staffing, police response times, and crime reduction.
“I knew it was bad, but not this bad,” said Supervisor Dean Preston, who requested the audit.
SFPD Chief Bill Scott agreed with many of the findings, saying in a letter dated Tuesday that the department “recognized the need to improve controls” and admitting that “there is more to be done to ensure that overtime is used appropriately and in the right quantities.”
The audit comes at a time when the department is short by 274 officers and relies on overtime to fill needed areas, wrote Scott.
‘Potential abuse patterns’
The audit looked at a five years periods reviewed — 2018-19 and 2022-23 — and found in 2022-23 department spent $108.4 million on overtime. Overtime hours cost the department 1.5 times the base pay for a regular shift.
The audit found that 12% of officers received 32% of the overtime pay, and the vast majority goes to initiatives such as special operations in the Tenderloin to deal with drug dealers and Union Square for retail theft, rather than neighborhood policing. The audit found little evidence that either of those initiatives had positive impacts on crime or response times.
It also found potential policy violations, such as managers approving their own overtime, and 15 officers making up for an outsized amount of overtime. Some officers work the equivalent of 80-hour weeks throughout the year.
In an especially disturbing trend, officers call in sick, then work private security details through what’s called the 10B program.
Twenty percent of all overtime used by a small group of officers with the most overtime was paid out as part of the 10B program, which details officers to do security for private entities who then reimburse the city.
The audit also found a 77% spike in sick leave over the past five years, jumping from 14 days a year to 25 — which contributed to more overtime spending to fill the gaps.
Approximately 51,000 hours of overtime related to 10B went to employees who were ineligible for such work due to high sick-leave usage between 2020 and 2023, the report said.
“SFPD does not adequately control staff use of overtime or monitor and enforce established overtime limits,” the audit found. “SFPD sworn staff regularly exceeded established overtime limits.”
The report warned not just of overspending on overtime but of risks “to public safety and officer health” from overwork and burnout.
Police fail to police
The department failed to police this excess overtime or even report it, as required by city rules, which include daily, weekly, and annual caps on overtime.
The audit found that 13% of overtime cards, which require two approvals, failed to have one or both signatures. In some cases, the same approver signed twice. In other cases, lieutenants or sergeants approved their own overtime.
The department did not enforce absenteeism rules or properly monitor attendance. It also failed to monitor officers who reached a sick-leave threshold, then received overtime, a practice barred by city rules.
‘SFPD does not adequately control staff use of overtime or monitor and enforce established overtime limits. SFPD sworn staff regularly exceeded established overtime limits.’
Audit findings
Personnel mismanagement adversely affected staffing at district stations, the report found. The overtime backfilling “resulted in uneven coverage at district stations, with too much backfill overtime worked at some stations on some days and not enough worked at other stations on other days.”
Preston requested the audit in 2023. The supervisor has critiqued SFPD spending, such as a request for $25 million in extra overtime pay last year.
The audit raises questions about the legitimacy of claims by SFPD leaders that they can’t provide the services citizens expect due to the officer shortage, despite ever-increasing budgets.
The department and its rank-and-file union claim overtime is the only way to fill staffing gaps.
According to Preston’s office, the SFPD’s annual budget of $821 million — an increase of $200 million since 2020 — is the highest ever, despite declining calls for service and a drop in crime.
“The violation of laws and contracts, the lack of oversight, and the abuse of overtime are alarming and require immediate intervention,” Preston said.