Police Overtime Doubles

$37 million for O.T. as force shrinks

Overtime spending on Chicago cops has more than doubled over the last five years to over $37 million in 2009, according to the Sun-Times.

The huge increase is due to fewer officers and paperwork regulations, according to Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), the newly appointed chairman of the Police Committee.

The budget news is only the latest grim outlook on the CPD, which has struggled with maintaining a full complement of officers. The city's considered several methods for increasing enrollment, including dropping the police entrance exam to boost minority hiring and avert legal battles.

Mayor Daley's 2010 budget counted on federal stimulus funds to boost the number of officers but that still only estimated adding 86 cops -- nowhere near enough to fill the over 800 vacancies, according to the Sun-Times.

Nearly 130 officers retired Friday -- and as many as 1,000 retirements are expected by year's end, which may add to the amount of O.T. officers obtain.

Overtime pay isn't the department's only concern, either. City officials have recently considered calling in the National Guard to help patrol Chicago's streets.

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