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Supervisors send SFPD overtime audit to full board after committee discussion
Summary
The Government Audit & Oversight Committee voted to refer a motion directing the Budget and Legislative Analyst to audit San Francisco Police Department overtime use, citing a jump in overtime spending and concerns about approval processes and transparency.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on May 18 voted to send to the full Board of Supervisors a motion directing the Budget and Legislative Analyst to conduct a performance audit of the San Francisco Police Department’s management and use of overtime.
Chair Dean Preston said the audit is prompted by what he called “significant overspending” and a lack of transparency around overtime approvals. He cited BLA figures showing SFPD general fund overtime rose from about $20.25 million pre‑COVID to a projected $81 million for the current year and noted the Board recently appropriated an additional $25 million to cover overtime costs.
Nick Menard of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s office told the committee the audit will examine internal controls for overtime approvals, how overtime is tracked and reported, and whether departmental policies conform to industry best practices. Menard estimated the work could take six to eight months once the motion is approved.
The motion passed on a roll call of 3–0 and will be placed on the Board’s full agenda. The committee’s referral carries a positive recommendation for the audit, which will analyze deployment decisions, programmatic overtime uses and how overtime supports both backfilling patrol and staffing new initiatives such as neighborhood safety interventions.
Next steps: The full Board of Supervisors will consider the committee’s referral at a future meeting. The BLA and committee members said they expect to return with the audit’s scope and timeline once the full Board acts.
