Police Overtime Ballooned to $72M

San Jose spent $72 million on police overtime between June 2024 and June 2025, and the city auditor says emergency response times still lagged the city’s target. (nbcbayarea.com) (sanjosespotlight.com) The City Auditor’s Office presented the follow-up report to the City Council on Tuesday, April 28, after publishing it on April 9. The audit said overtime spending was 53% higher than five years earlier. (sanjoseca.gov) (nbcbayarea.com) The same report said average response times for Priority 1 calls — emergencies involving immediate danger to life or major property damage — have worsened since 2020 and remain above San Jose’s six-minute goal. (sanjosespotlight.com) (localnewsmatters.org) The auditor tied the problem to staffing losses and workload pressure inside the San Jose Police Department. The office listed the report as a follow-up to its earlier review of police staffing, expenditures and workload. (sanjoseca.gov 1) (sanjoseca.gov 2) City leaders had already started responding before this week’s council discussion. In March, San Jose approved tighter overtime controls and officer redeployments after police overtime hit $71.5 million in 2025, far above the department’s adopted $26.6 million overtime budget. (police1.com) (officer.com) That March plan also called for reducing patrol districts from 16 to 12, a change city leaders said would let the department match available officers to call volume more efficiently. (officer.com) (police1.com) The audit lands as San Jose keeps public safety near the center of its budget debate. The City Auditor’s annual services report, presented in January, tracks timeliness and cost across city departments, including police service levels. (sanjoseca.gov 1) (sanjoseca.gov 2) The immediate question for San Jose is whether stricter controls can cut overtime without stretching response times further. The City Council now has both the auditor’s warning and the department’s cost-cutting plan on the table. (nbcbayarea.com) (police1.com)