San Francisco Police Audit Finds ‘Excessive Use of Overtime’ Spending Since 2019

San Francisco police have blown through approved overtime budgets in the past five years, according to an audit released Thursday by the Budget and Legislative Analyst Office.

The findings come as San Francisco faces a nearly $800 million budget deficit and looming cuts across city departments and after the Board of Supervisors in 2023 approved an additional $25 million for police overtime.

Overtime spending nearly tripled in the audit period, reaching a staggering $108.4 million in the 2022–23 fiscal year, according to the report, which was requested by Supervisor Dean Preston, who chairs the Government Audit and Oversight Committee. It also shows that overtime for special events and backfill, in particular, ballooned 592% from fiscal year 2018–19 to 2022–23.

SFPD has a total budget of approximately $821 million, up nearly $200 million since 2020. However, a relatively small proportion of staff have clocked the majority of overtime hours. In fiscal year 2022–23, just 209 (12%) of sworn officers who worked overtime accounted for nearly one-third of SFPD’s total overtime.

“SFPD does not adequately control staff use of overtime or monitor and enforce established overtime limits,” the report reads. “Overall, we found a lack of both internal and external accountability for overtime limit violations and excessive overtime at SFPD. The Department has not taken sufficient steps to enforce its overtime limits, and violations typically do not result in consequences or corrective action.”

In a written response to the audit, Chief Bill Scott said that the use of overtime in SFPD “is directly tied to the current understaffing of the Department,” which he said is short by at least 274 officers.

“As a necessary stopgap measure, the SFPD has been using overtime to backfill our patrol and investigation units to ensure San Francisco remains one of the safest cities in the country,” Paulina Henderson, SFPD’s public information officer, said in an email. “As we continue to rebuild our ranks, overtime hours will decrease, saving the city money and giving our incredibly hard-working officers a much-needed break.”

The report not only highlights the vast increase in overtime costs but also “potential abuse patterns” over how officers are taking sick and injury-related leave. Sick leave used by SFPD officers increased by 77% in the five years the audit reviewed, which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. The report suggests that officers were more likely to use sick days on weekends “to avoid weekend duties” and that “SFPD did not enforce existing absenteeism policies or adequately monitor attendance during the audit scope period.”

Sick leave is directly tied to overtime use because SFPD must backfill positions when officers are unable to work.

“Excessive overtime hours pose risks to public safety and officer health … and may generate unnecessary financial costs for the City,” the report reads. “SFPD must improve its oversight, reporting, and compliance with overtime policies to mitigate the risks associated with excessive overtime, including increased liability, impaired officer decision-making, and other negative health and public safety impacts.”

Auditors also took a look at two specific initiatives where the police department has relied on overtime spending to increase police presence in a designated area. Those include the Union Square Safe Shopper Initiative and the Tenderloin Triangle Initiative. In both cases, the additional overtime led to no significant improvement in 911 response times or overall crime trends, according to the report.

Preston, who called for the audit in 2023, slammed SFPD for weak oversight and urged incoming supervisors to follow through on efforts to ensure police spending is lawful and efficient.

“I knew it was bad, but not this bad,” Preston said in an email statement. “The violation of laws and contracts, the lack of oversight, and the abuse of overtime are alarming and require immediate intervention and oversight.”