Seattle Police Department wasted $1 million in excessive overtime, internal watchdog says

SEATTLE -- A report by the Seattle Police Department's internal watchdog Office of Professional Accountability slams the department for wasting at least $1 million on officer overtime.

The problem happened in the Training Division, where lax policies allowed officers to collect overtime on vacation days, and for work that should have been part of their regular jobs.  One officer even received 31.5 hours of overtime for a 24-hour period.

The study by the independent OPA attributed the waste to an outdated accounting system and poor leadership.   It reads, in part:

“Supervisors failed to keep overtime spending within budget, did not have tight supervisory controls and did not keep accurate records … The money spent produced little of value.”



All the problems cited in the report happened in 2013 while Mike McGinn was still mayor.

In response to the report, new Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole says that her office has implemented a new system to track overtime and to flag problems as they arise.