Report of the Office of Inspector General: *************************
Chic a go Police Depar tment Overtime Controls Audit
October 2017
866-IG- TIP LINE (866-448-4 754) www.chicasoiitspectargeneral.orii
Joseph M. Ferguson Inspector General
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
City of Chicago
740 N. Sedgwick Sired. Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 Telephone: (773) 478-7799 Fax: (773)478-3949
October 3, 2017
To the Mayor, Members of the City Council, City Clerk, City Treasurer, and residents of the City of Chicago:
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has completed an audit of the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) controls related to regular-duty overtime. From 2011 to 2016, CPD's actual spending on overtime increased from $42.2 million to $146.0 million. CPD exceeded its annual budget for overtime in each of the last six years, and in 2016 the Department's overtime spending exceeded its budget by $66.4 million. OIG conducted this audit to determine if CPD effectively monitors and manages overtime to control costs, curb abuse, and prevent officer fatigue.
There are a variety of reasons why CPD members may work overtime related to their regular shifts, such as attending court during off-duty hours or processing an arrest at the end of a shift. Members may also volunteer to work special assignments on their days off, such as extra shifts for the City's Violence Reduction Initiative or the Chicago Transit Authority. Our audit focused on regular-duty overtime because it represents the majority of overtime earned and, unlike voluntary special employment, uses a paper-based recordkeeping system requiring a host of timekeepers and support staff to make manual calculations and enter data into two separate software systems.
Based on the audit results, OIG concluded that CPD's current timekeeping practices do not provide the controls needed to actively manage the Department's use of overtime. CPD'...
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