Oakland Police Department Mismanagement Exposed In New Report

OAKLAND, Calif., May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A bombshell new report released today by IFPTE Local 21, SEIU Local 1021, and IBEW Local 1245 sheds light on the out-of-control police overtime driving the City's deficit. The report titled "Smarter Public Safety: A Roadmap for Oakland," reveals a systemic breakdown of accountability within the Oakland Police Department. Just last year, officers claimed nearly 456,000 hours of overtime—over 170,000 hours more than the pre-pandemic average and far higher than past years with similar officer staffing levels. In total, overspending in the police department has cost the city $236 million in lost reserve balances since 2008.

Click here to read the full report: Smarter Public Safety: A Roadmap for Oakland

Angelica Lopez is a recreation center director for the City of Oakland who serves as chapter treasurer for SEIU 1021's City of Oakland chapter. She said, "We need the City's budget to fund public safety in all its forms, from clean, safe streets and open libraries and rec centers, to much more. Every other department in the City has to manage its overtime, and it's time for OPD to develop a plan to manage its overtime expenditures."

"Public safety shouldn't mean runaway spending," said Julian Ware, IFPTE Local 21 Oakland Vice President. "We can invest in safety without wasting millions on unchecked overtime."

The report outlines a path for Oakland to realistically reduce most categories of police overtime back to pre-pandemic levels, to improve monitoring of overtime to prevent waste and abuse and to reduce reliance on overtime to perform work that can be done by civilian employees at a lower cost. In doing so, it outlines a path to reduce overtime spending to $20-$30 million annually.

Major findings include:

1. Police overtime hours do not decrease when officer staffing levels increase or as crime rates decline, suggesting that growth in overtime use cannot be explained by understaffing or crime rates alone. The adopted budget includes 739 officer positions, which is assumed to decrease overtime by $22 million compared to current spending levels. However, policymakers cannot assume that this will happen absent stricter controls.
2. Since 2019, 56% of added overtime hours have been shift extensions, which officers are able to self-initiate without prior approval from a manager. The city does not track how many shift extension hours are worked without prior approval and cannot demonstrate compliance with existing policies allowing shift extensions in only limited circumstances. Reducing shift extensions to prior levels could save $3 million towards the city's goal of reducing overtime by $22 million.
3. For the past decade, the city auditor has recommended creating a better system for monitoring and approving officer overtime. To date, most changes recommended by the auditor have not been implemented, including near-term achievable goals like demonstrating compliance with all existing overtime policies, renegotiation of labor MOU provisions and implementation of an integrated payroll and scheduling system. Full compliance with auditor recommendations could help the city return to at least pre-pandemic levels of overtime use for most categories, helping to meet the Mayor's proposed reduction goal. It would also create additional long-term liability savings of up to $3 million. 
4. There are at least 38 sworn officers positions in internal affairs, information technology, public information, training, recruitment, background checks and performance auditing that were previously approved by city council for transition to civilian staff, however civilianization never occurred. Full civilianization of these roles would allow the department to redeploy officers to special enforcement, investigations or patrol, reducing overtime needs by 79,000 to 83,000 overtime hours annually or $8 million. Civilianization would also allow for the elimination of sworn officer overtime performed in these units, further reducing costs by over $5.2 million. In total, civilianization could reduce overtime spending by $13.2 million. These changes would help the department make even deeper reductions to overtime beyond what has already been proposed. The reimagining public safety taskforce also identified further opportunities for civilianization that have not yet been explored.

The report found that Oakland is uniquely failing to track overtime and enforce policies. Oakland's fire department does not allow employee-initiated shift extensions under any circumstances and other large Bay Area police departments require prior approval from a commanding officer for work that in Oakland does not. The report includes recommendations for City leaders to create action plans to implement full civilianization of previously approved positions and to fully comply with all city auditor recommendations on overtime management by June 30, 2026.

Recent polling of Oakland residents suggests that, while safety is top of mind for voters, these cost controls are popular. When asked what actions they would support to manage public safety expenditures, 62% of residents cited either overtime reductions or increased use of civilian staff in safety services as their preferred options.

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SOURCE IFPTE Local 21