Boston City council hearing about to start on police overtime costs — the first of a few over the next couple weeks over policing in Boston.

This, obviously, comes after the protests that started nearly two months ago about police treatment of minorities. There then was a big fight over the annual budget, in which the mayor cut the department OT spending by $12 million — though some councilors wanted larger cuts.

After the council passed the mayor's budget, many councilors who voted for and against vowed further hearings on policing in Boston. The is one of the main ones.

One of the notable things about police (and fire) overtime is that it's one of the only budget items that it will be paid even if it goes over, which it always does. For the year that started July 1, the police OT budget is $48 million, rather than the originally planned $60M.

City councilor Andrea Campbell references this, talking about how to "make real" those cuts.

Police officials telling council that 69% of OT costs are either for "replacement costs" (if an officer is off for some reason like being out sick or hurt, & they have to pull in someone else and pay them OT) or "extended tours," which is when officers simply have to work longer

Lisa O'Brien of the police department says the department says BPD is looking at various ways at cutting down on both categories, including swapping out civilians for sworn officers for many administrative positions, a new look at mandatory staffing levels & tighter time controls

Last year's OT budget was $60M, actual ended up as $72M. The councilors are trying to get the department to hold to $48M this year — effectively cutting last year's actual by a third.

City councilor Matt O'Malley saying a change from five eight-hour shifts to four 10-hour shifts could both cut down on OT costs/missed shifts and make officers happier/less stressed.

Hasson says the PD isn't talking about that right now, but, "You could be onto something."

Note: minimum staffing levels for a precinct are determined by the size of the area covered, the density of the population and the number of calls, Hasson says.

So officers have a 90-hours-a-week cap to work a week. Hasson says there's such a demand by the department for officers to work OT shifts that some officers end up hitting it even though they don't want to

Dennis White, Commissioner William Gross' chief of staff, says the BPD has about 1,800 officers — and that it should be more like 2200, 2300.

Councilor Ed Flynn says, "We need to hire several hire several hundred police officers ... I'm talking 300 or 400 police officers."
Flynn continues, "Maybe it’s time to raise taxes in the city to deal with this, because this is a crisis.

Flynn suggested raising taxes during the budget hearings, too, talking more about COVID, if I remember correctly.

. @catmcgloin at @BayStateBanner wrote lately on the matter of officers taking evidence to court getting paid in four-hour chunks, even if they only worked like 30 min. Hasson tells council that only the time worked counts against the 90-hour-a-week cap https://twitter.com/catmcgloin/status/1283451426975485960?s=20

City Councilor Michael Flaherty says city should cover chiropractic and occupational therapy, and that change would get cops — and everyone else — back to work from injuries faster and happier.