Civil grand jury says police need to curb overtime

Cost of overtime "has been excessive"

By Ananda Shorey

July 11, 2007

A civil grand jury is calling for the San Francisco Police Department to make their employees in management positions ineligible to earn overtime.

The cost of San Francisco Police Department overtime "has been excessive,'' according to a civil grand jury report released Monday.

The civil grand jury recommended in its report that less costly alternatives such as limited administrative leave be considered.

"There is an obvious conflict of interest when the captains, who have been identified as the best positioned to control overtime usage, continue to be eligible to earn overtime themselves,'' the report states.

In addition to overtime concerns, the civil grand jury is calling for more civilian patrols on the Police Department's work force.

San Francisco will soon be facing a critical shortage of sworn officers since it is understaffed and also because it has numerous officers who are eligible for retirement in the next few years, according to the report.

This shortage could be eased by allowing officers to focus on what they are trained to do while letting civilians do some of the more mundane tasks, civil grand jury member Mike Lusse said.

Nine percent of the San Francisco Police Department work force is made up of civilian employees, a sharp contrast to other cities like Oakland, where civilian employees make up 31 percent of the work force, Lusse said.

In Oakland, dispatchers, crime lab personnel, police service technicians, animal control officers and receptionists are among the jobs filled by civilians.

This report is one of seven issued Monday to various agencies, which have 60 days to respond. Once they respond, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors then gets them and has 90 days to respond.

The civil grand jury reports are available at: http://www.sfgov.org/site/courts_page.asp?id=3680.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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