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   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   This story was produced in partnership with the Investigative Reporting   
   Program at UC Berkeley Journalism.   
      
   For five years now, Oakland has struggled with immense budget deficits.   
   The city’s most recent financial forecast shows budget gaps hovering   
   around $120 million each year until 2030, forcing major cuts to spending   
   unless the city finds new revenues.   
      
   One major source of overspending in the city is the police department.   
   By far the most expensive city service, the Oakland Police Department’s   
   $386 million budget this year is about 19% of Oakland’s total spending.   
   And each year, OPD has come under scrutiny for its runaway overtime   
   spending, routinely blowing past its approved levels by millions of   
   dollars. Last fiscal year, the Department spent over $55 million on   
   overtime. Thirty-one million of this was over budget.   
      
   According to Huy Nguyen, president of the Oakland Police Officers   
   Association — the city’s police union — OPD’s ongoing staffing shortage   
   is driving overtime.   
      
   “At this staffing level, more officers will be forced to work excessive   
   overtime, which in turn will accelerate attrition,” Nguyen said in a   
   statement. “We cannot meet the needs of our community without forcing   
   officers into more shifts.”   
      
   It is true that OPD is severely understaffed by hundreds of officers.   
   Mayor Barbara Lee is attempting to shrink the staffing gap, with plans   
   to increase the number of officers.   
      
   But historical data throws into question whether increasing staffing   
   will rectify OPD’s chronic overtime overspending. A recent report by   
   several civilian city unions found that over the past 15 years, even   
   when department staffing increased, overtime continued to go up. From   
   2011 to 2024, staffing increased by nearly 9%. Over the same period,   
   overtime went up by almost 200%.   
      
   Recent financial pressures have caused the city to lay off scores of   
   civilian employees and freeze spending across a range of programs.   
   Meanwhile, the number of police officers bringing in six-figure overtime   
   packages rose dramatically.   
      
   In 2021, 58 officers were paid over $100,000 in overtime. By the end of   
   2024, the number of officers paid this much for overtime nearly tripled   
   to 169.   
      
   And the number of officers making over $200,000 in overtime more than   
   quadrupled from six to a total of 27 over the same period.   
      
   The amount an officer gets paid working overtime is determined in a   
   formula agreed to in the police union’s contract with the city. This is   
   generally about 1.5 times their normal pay.   
      
   One officer’s earnings illustrate just how lucrative overtime can be for   
   some OPD employees.   
      
   Lieutenant Timothy Dolan, a 26-year veteran who leads the traffic unit   
   and serves as vice president of the OPOA police union, was paid $493,247   
   in overtime in 2024. Combined with his salary and other pay, this netted   
   him a $711,000 paycheck, making him OPD’s highest-paid employee — a   
   title he’s held for several years now. His pay was almost double that of   
   the chief of police and nearly three times the mayor’s paycheck. His   
   total compensation, including pension and healthcare benefits, was   
   $879,000.   
      
   Dolan’s pay package raises questions about how OPD documents and   
   approves overtime, and about whether the department is spending this   
   money wisely.   
      
   In Dolan’s case, he earned at least $100,000 in overtime — and possibly   
   far more — solely by reviewing paperwork for traffic collisions, records   
   reveal.   
      
   The paperwork for Dolan’s overtime also reveals that OPD failed to   
   document almost half of the overtime hours he worked, making it   
   impossible to determine what he was doing much of the time.   
      
   Dolan spent over 800 hours of overtime in 2024 reviewing collision   
   reports — the equivalent of about five months of work in a normal   
   full-time job. This was particularly expensive for the city because   
   Dolan, due to his rank, is near the top of OPD’s salary scale. Spreading   
   out the work among other officers during normal shift times could have   
   been cheaper.   
      
   “It’s an example of continued poor leadership and utilization of   
      
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