Chicago's police superintendent has told aldermen that the department is still looking for ways to bring down the force's overtime spending, even as demands for police services go up.
Summers are always busy in Chicago, and police superintendent Larry Snelling said they're getting busier.
"Our patrol officers have responded to calls for service more than 800,000 times so far this year," Snelling told City Council members during budget hearings September 16. "We responded to more than 450 protests over the past two years."
Snelling said that in order to respond to those calls quickly and effectively, especially during the busy summer months, overtime is unavoidable.
So far this year, the Chicago Police Department has racked up more than $166 million in overtime costs.
That's on track to be lower than the last two years, but it's still well over the $100 million budgeted by City Council for the full year.
Snelling told aldermen that a couple of changes could help bring that bill down: "Events should hire their own private security, or there should be some level of reimbursement for the Chicago Police Department."
He cited July's Street Race in Grant Park, which involved less CPD overtime because NASCAR used its own security team inside the race perimeter.