The Chicago Police Department shelled out $21.3 million for overtime in April and May, putting overtime spending for 2013 in a $10.5 million hole before the traditional summer crime wave, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The newspaper reported in May that the police department had already burned through two-thirds of its 2013 overtime budget during the first three months of the year.
Some of that $21 million tab went to officers working in “Operation Impact,” an overtime program that started in February with 200 officers-a-night flooding 20 of Chicago's most violent crime zones and doubled in March to 400 officers-a-night. City Hall sources cited three factors for why they are not overly concerned: An uptick in tax revenue driven by a number of large property sales in the downtown area, a drop in overall police payroll expenses, and the police academy continues to churn out recruits—with nearly 400 graduates already and 600 expected by fall–who will be paid straight-time to go on foot patrol in the 20 hot zones, gradually reducing the amount of overtime.