Posted on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 by Patrick Dorwin
Milwaukee Police chief Ed Flynn’s first year has been quite successful on the crime fighting front, today we learn that police overtime is also down. They didn’t hit their target, but it is the lowest amount in years.
Overtime down, but misses goal
Milwaukee police overtime ran $1.2 million over budget last year, defeating predictions that 2008 would end a string of overruns, according to preliminary figures from the city’s budget office.But even including that overrun, the Police Department’s total spending on salaries came in $2.6 million under budget, drawing praise from aldermen for Police Chief Edward Flynn’s management skills.
Total overtime was $17.1 million in 2008, down from $19.2 million in 2007 but still more than the $15.9 million budgeted for last year. It was the smallest overrun since 2002. And taxpayers covered only $565,675 of the total, with grants picking up the rest, budget analyst David Schroeder said.
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January 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
“And taxpayers covered only $565,675 of the total, with grants picking up the rest, budget analyst David Schroeder said.”
And who paid for these grants?????
Maybe they should look at detectives and higher-ups who are milking the system for overtime, when it really isn’t needed. I could think of one detective milking the system …
January 28th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
First off, congrats to Flynn and the MPD for making a good improvement. And you all know how I hate to nitpick, but the following statement in the story did bug me:
“And taxpayers covered only $565,675 of the total, with grants picking up the rest, budget analyst David Schroeder said.”
Unless those grants were private foundation grants, taxpayers did pick up the entire bill for the over time, it just came out of the federal taxpayer bucket, instead of the local taxpayer bucket… and we contribute to the federal one as well.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Think of it as a mini economic stimulus for police officers, Nick…but seriously…
Here’s some perspective on those figures:
The MPD has roughly 1700 sworn members eligible to be paid for overtime.
So, the overage amounts to about $705 per sworn member for the year. A figure that only takes a police officer 17 1/2 hours to earn…a detective or sergeant need only work about 14 hours to earn that amount…with lieutenants working even fewer hours. So as you can see…it doesn’t take much to account for that overage.
Based on the $15.9 mil figure for budgeted overtime…
Officers are averaging $9173 per year in OT…or about 218 hours per year times $42/hr OT rate…or about 4 1/2 hours per week factoring for vacation and other time off.
Detectives/Sergeants are averaging $9341/yr…or about 183 hours per year times $51/hr OT rate…or about 3.8 hours per week.
Lieutenants average about the same.
There have been articles written and databases documenting the biggest earners. I am merely figuring some raw averages based on about 1300 officers, 180 detectives, 180 sergeants and about 50 lieutenants (only these ranks receive paid overtime). Many do not work much overtime, while some log a whole lot more.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Police overtime is a function of the job and will never be eliminated even though Chief Flynn has been effective at reducing it. It seems to me that the cost of running the Department is the real issue. Based upon what I saw when I was a member of the Command Staff of the Milwaukee Police Department, real and permanent cuts in the Department could be made by reducing the number of Assistant and Deputy Chiefs as well as several Captain positions. Unless Chief Flynn has made galactic changes in the work ethic of the Command Staff members and gained demonstrable compliance, there is significant fat which could be trimmed which would result in absolutely no reduction in efficiency or effectiveness.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:51 am
As to GOPgal’s comment that one Detective is milking the system, I would tend to disagree. Prior to my retirement a few years ago, the MPD already at that time was trying to cut overtime. One would have to contact a supervisor every half hour or so while on overtime to basically justify your work while on overtime. I can’t think of any supervisor that would be willing to stick their neck out for somebody that was wasting time. Ret. Capt. Frankovis is also correct on their being “too many chiefs and not enough indians”. Or at least put some of the supervisors in a squad car to take hitches and remember what it was like to work for a living. The other side of the coin is also to explain better to the public what police overtime being a function of the job actually means. That most assignments, ie criminal investigations/arrests, traffic accident investigations/arrests can’t and shouldn’t be turned over to an officer on the next shift. One single call or self generated investigation can last well over eight hours. Imagine getting that call or coming upon something with less than an hour of your regular shift left. TV shows and movies just touch on the fact that the paperwork takes a long time. I remember that court subpoena time was being looked at to reduce overtime. I don’t know what, if any progress has been made on reductions in that area at this time. The bottom line is that quality police work is going to generate overtime and unless coppers run around with blinders on and don’t answer the radio calls, overtime is virtually impossible to eliminate.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I agree with GLENN. (by the way, we miss you) It’s not ot that is the biggest burden on the budget. We could be much more efficient with things. This new (any day now) radio system would be a good start. What is the delay? Why can’t anyone explain what the problem is? Why are we wasting money painting cars black and white? When a new car comes, it’s black and white. No need to paint, let time take care of it. $600.00 a car for paint. Silly! $320.00 for new all season jackets for patrol. We could get the Blauer version which comes with pants and a cap cover via a homeland security grant for $0.00!!! A certain DI does not like the fleece liner jacket that also can be worn during the spring and fall. Those that have seen it love it. He also thinks no one will wear the pants. SO WHAT! Half a million so we don’t get pants somebody may or may not wear? CRAZY!! It is just a constant waste. How much money has been dumped into the old #3, so that the NTF has a home base. But the people who work there have to go to the new # three or PAB to park and get a vehicle and then report to the NTF HQ. How much time and money is going to be wasted? No parking at the old #3, unless your a boss. Again, waste, waste, waste! This is where we need to cut down. Also, the top is way too heavy. A captain, Lt. and two Sgt.s to run community services! One Sgt. could do it. They only have like 9 cops. Waste, waste, waste! O.K., I’ll stop. My BP is going up.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Like getting shot at, it’s nice to be missed.
January 29th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I was thinking about this overtime discussion while I was working out in the Club Basement and it occurred to me that while it is the responsibility of a Police Chief to monitor and attempt to reduce overtime and other expenses, there is at least one other entity within the criminal justice system that could help. Judges could sentence repeat offenders (also known in the system as Habitual Criminals), and even first time violent offenders, to terms of incarceration which would be more likely to keep them behind bars longer thereby greatly reducing the likelihood that cops would have to work overtime investigating crimes committed by these repeat offenders; arresting them; and enduring long trials to convict them - again. (And that doesn’t even address the impact on victims of crime caused by these repeat offenders.) For example, check these two names for yourself on ccap Wisconsin: Walter T. Missouri and Nicholas Altman. Don’t just look at their numbers of cases, but do take the time to read each case and sentence. How many kicks at the cat do you give a career criminal before you start giving him some real time in prison? After all, that is why the Habitual Criminality statute exists as a sentencing enhancer. For that matter, one could even ask what role probation/parole agents have in holding these offenders accountable and what does it take for them to revoke the probation/parole of an offender assigned to them.
January 29th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I remember that court subpoena time was being looked at to reduce overtime. I don’t know what, if any progress has been made on reductions in that area at this time.
Rumor has it that Chief Flynn requested a meeting with the Chief Judge of Milwaukee County’s Circuit Court in order to discuss court scheduling changes that would help with MPD’s overtime…the judge reportedly told him to pound sand, albeit diplomatically I’m sure.
On a somewhat related note…all but a handful of NTF’s dayshift is being reassigned to district patrol. So all the money spent to refurbish the old District 3 (even though it’s a cool, old historic building) will be to accomodate only one shift.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
The reassignment of so many Day Shift NTF Officers is interesting news. Perhaps he’s going to the District-specific ASP concept I was advocating and which was so effective for me. I hope so.
As for the old building, the most effective use of that building would have been as a District #8 for the purpose of restructuring District boundaries to reduce the size of Districts #4 and #7 (and now #5). If the parking lot is still there, it could also be used to park many of the vehicles that were being stored in the lower level of the Police Administration Building and MacArthur Square. Of course, I’m saying this based on my knowledge of the parking problems we had almost 5 years ago when I was still there, so perhaps that problem has already been resolved.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I recently learned that Flynn is considering limiting to 4 hours the paid overtime per pay period (2 weeks) to Detectives on the Holdup Squad and 7 hours paid overtime to Detectives on the Homicide Squad. He is also considering having Detectives taken off the street 2 hours prior to the end of their tours of duty to file reports to eliminate extension of duty to do so. How insane if this happens. I’ve been in the Bureau for 20+ years and a Detective can’t maintain a concern for nor end a major investigation come the end of a tour of duty.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Adding to what milwhowie said…the handful of officers and the detectives working in Vice and Intelligence have been limited to 3 hours of overtime per week…or 6 hours per pay period. I haven’t heard what the Robbery guys/gals are limited to, but I heard 11 hours for Homicide every two weeks…not counting grants and court/DA appearances.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I realize that this is all happening under Flynn’s watch, but I wonder if this limit on O.T. for the Detectives isn’t a Harpole-ism. Last I heard, he is the Asst. Chief in charge of the Detective Bureau. Still, I would expect Flynn’s oversight and a more common sense approach.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Chief Flynn should check into the time spent by police officers in escorting and obliging Alderman Bauman for his activities.
January 30th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Regardless of any overages in the overtime budget, Flynn is getting a lot of latitude from the press and politicians because the crime numbers are down. Overtime will always be needed because of the nature of police work.
I am sorry to hear about the limits on paid overtime for some detectives. But it always seemed that the coppers at the districts were the first to have overtime reduction efforts imposed on them.
As a longtime Patrol side member, it seems the CIB side is still not getting it. This Chief, over the last year, is fundementally changing the way the MPD does business. It seems that for the first time in 40 years or so, the CIB is not setting the direction on how the department operates.
Just my 2 cents.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I think you’re right Andy…Flynn has little respect for what detectives do…although that never prevented him for taking credit for things like the Nash St. gang round-up; a case that started well before Flynn planted his flag here.
I also agree that overtime control should be evenly distributed, as opposed to target on certain divisions/bureaus.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Captain, I’m not so sure that the OT crunch is Harpole’s doing. I heard that he has addressed the OT issue with kid gloves saying that it wasn’t his call and that his hands were tied. This might equate him to a sock puppet.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Who said detectives were responsible for the Nash Street roundup? Wasn’t Sgt. Mucha and the entire crew at D-5 responsible for that fine job? D-5 set it all up, and then HAD to turn it over. Those guys there got more guns and do more warrant arrests than anybody else according to the year end stats. It’s about time the prima donnas in the CIB earn the check they get every two weeks.
January 30th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Could be Chip. Could be. You guys are closer to the problem than I am, so maybe you’re right. Having worked among these people though I’m skeptical.
January 30th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Who said detectives were totally responsible for Nash St.? Far as I know, there were many people from different ranks involved. My point was Flynn will take credit for stuff he had nothing to do with.
What’s your beef with CIB, rocketman? Careful you don’t get baited into the Patrol vs. CIB game…dept. and city managers would like nothing more than to further weaken the MPA. Union leadership isn’t what it was under DeBraska. Don’t think that OT is the only area city mgrs want to cut.