Tacoma police officers are racking up millions in overtime pay. Here’s the problem

The Tacoma Police Department is on track to spend $6.7 million in overtime pay this year.

Police Chief Avery Moore said during TPD’s budget presentation last week the department has 118 officers to respond to calls — 140 officers are required for minimum staffing and 160 officers are needed for no overtime staffing. TPD’s budget accounts for 173 positions.

“The largest part of our budget is personnel, and because we’re short staffed, we pretty much have to do everything as it relates to our operations on overtime,” Moore said.

The department has spent $5 million in overtime pay this year. Last year, TPD spent $3 million in overtime pay, and in 2020, it spent $2.2 million.

He said the Tacoma Police Department is short 12 officers every day.

Moore said the street racing initiative and violent crime hotspots are manned by overtime. The department also uses overtime during holidays. On some holidays, officers get triple time for working, he said.

About 92 percent of overtime is voluntarily filled, Moore said. The rest is mandated. Officers can only work a maximum of 80 hours a week.

The Tacoma Police Department has hired 42 new officers since Moore became chief in January, but the department has also lost 35 officers.

“It’s not a true body-for-body exchange,” he said.

He said officers are leaving the department due to retirement, death, termination, family reasons or leaving law enforcement entirely. Moore said officers aren’t leaving because they are mad or bitter.

Last year, 41 people retired or separated and 15 were hired. TPD is on pace to hire 60 officers this year. In 2020, 24 people retired or separated from TPD but only 12 were hired.

Moore said it takes 19 months to train an entry-level officer with no experience. A lateral hire is two weeks of training if they are from in state and four weeks if they are from out of state. So far this year, TPD has hired 10 lateral officers and aims to hire another nine by the end of the year.

“Staffing is extremely important to me because that’s the light in the tunnel that officers need when they’re tired, feel like they’re overworked, devalued and unappreciated,” he said. “As long as they can see that glimmer of light that new people are coming in, it shows that we care and that we recognize the difficulties of this job.”

Moore said the department’s recruiting accomplishments included increasing its diversity of applicants, launching a Reflect and Protect website and providing a $25,000 lateral incentive.

The base salary for a police officer is $109,000, and the average salary is $123,000 and with benefits it’s $165,000.

Tacoma Police Department’s adopted budget for 2021-2022 is $180 million, of that $124 million is for personnel services.

The Police Department’s proposed budget for 2023-2024 is $216 million, with $147 million going toward personnel. The budget includes $1.1 million to increase forensic staffing to provide 24/7 coverage for crime scene services, $75,000 for employee wellness to increase the existing psychologist contract, $600,000 to replace outdated unmarked vehicles, $365,000 to increase the equipment and training budget and $494,000 in new recruit costs for academy and in new equipment and uniforms.

This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 12:44 PM.