News Bite

Detroit Police Racking Up A Lot More Overtime During Epidemic

248,767 overtime hours from March 23 to May 31

Members of the City of Detroit’s police department have been working longer hours since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer imposed a statewide stay-at-home executive order early in the coronavirus epidemic.

Its police officers have claimed about 939 more overtime hours each day compared to daily overtime levels from 2018.

City officials approved 248,767 police overtime hours from March 23 to May 31. It comes to an average of about 3,605 of overtime hours each day over that 69-day period.

In 2018, the city of Detroit approved a total of 973,227 hours of overtime for the police department, or 2,666 hours a day.

Whitmer’s stay-at-home order took effect on March 23.

The city states it has 2,200 police officers; the overtime information was provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.