City of Poughkeepsie to reduce police overtime costs
Poughkeepsie, New York, officials are working with the city's police department to formulate a plan that will help the department cut costs, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.
In a recent presentation to the city council, lieutenant Daniel Dowd said that 39 percent of the department's overtime expenses come from shift coverage, and all of the department's five shifts are either operating at a minimum or short. Because of this, other officers often have to be brought in to work overtime.
This year, approximately $784,000 is budgeted for police overtime. Dowd put forward several models to keep costs down by adding between five to 10 officers to the current 33 on payroll. He also suggested hiring a civilian dispatcher, which would free up an officer on desk duty to perform other police work.
"You will always have overtime," councilman Charles Kelly said, according to the newspaper. "What we have to do is manage the police department in such a way that we get more bang for the buck."
In order to save as much as $800,000 in overtime, the city council of Scottsdale, Arizona, recently approved a policy to exempt non-worked hours such as vacation time and sick leave from contributing to the total number of working hours on an officer's payroll.
In a recent presentation to the city council, lieutenant Daniel Dowd said that 39 percent of the department's overtime expenses come from shift coverage, and all of the department's five shifts are either operating at a minimum or short. Because of this, other officers often have to be brought in to work overtime.
This year, approximately $784,000 is budgeted for police overtime. Dowd put forward several models to keep costs down by adding between five to 10 officers to the current 33 on payroll. He also suggested hiring a civilian dispatcher, which would free up an officer on desk duty to perform other police work.
"You will always have overtime," councilman Charles Kelly said, according to the newspaper. "What we have to do is manage the police department in such a way that we get more bang for the buck."
In order to save as much as $800,000 in overtime, the city council of Scottsdale, Arizona, recently approved a policy to exempt non-worked hours such as vacation time and sick leave from contributing to the total number of working hours on an officer's payroll.
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