Eight months into 2023, Minneapolis Police Lt. Robert Berry was already making $164,700 in overtime, more than his annual salary of about $131,000.
The 31-year MPD veteran was earning the most overtime as of Aug. 25 among MPD's 650 officers, including civilian workers. Reformer Received through a public records request.
Just behind him is Sergeant Steven McBride, who made $153,000 in overtime over an eight-month period. McBride is the top overtime earner, making more than three times his base salary, more than $390,000 last year, easily surpassing MPD Chief Brian O'Hara's $271,721.
They were among 14 MPD officers who have already made six-figure overtime in the first eight months of the year, with 61 in total making at least $50,000 in overtime.
By comparison, teachers in Minneapolis make about $78,000 a year.
By late August, the average salary for an officer working overtime was $25,000. Most MPD officers average between eight and 10 hours of overtime per week.
The department is paying record overtime: Eight months in, MPD has already paid $14.4 million in overtime, already more than the $10 million the city has budgeted for overtime in 2023 and more than the past four years of overtime combined.
MPD's overtime bill ballooned from $6.4 million in 2019 to $10.3 million in 2020. Waves of officers left MPD after the police killing of George Floyd sparked protests and riots. Often involves workers' compensation settlements or retirement due to work-related disability The remaining officers were forced to work long hours of overtime, especially as crime soared in the city.
Overtime pay for 2021 increased to $12.8 million.
Since Floyd's murder, MPD personnel Lowest in historyThe number of officers was reduced from nearly 900 to 585.
Since last fall, police departments have been paying officers double their regular pay for “critical staffing overtime” to make up for staffing shortages, so some officers are being paid double pay for overtime instead of the usual 1.5 times.
In the spring of 2022, then-Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman instituted overtime limits to give officers time to recover and avoid mistakes. Huffman banned officers from working seven days a week, working more than 16 consecutive hours, and working more than 74 hours a week (with some exceptions). Outside working hoursPolice officers provide security for private organizations.
O'Hara has temporarily lifted most of those restrictions.
In December 2022, he introduced a new policy that limits officers' work hours to 160 hours per two-week pay period, or 80 hours per week, including off-duty work, and officers must take at least one full day off per pay period.
The policy was amended in February to require officers to take at least eight hours of leave every 24 hours, with only deputy chiefs allowed to make exceptions.
MPD did not respond to a request for comment.
