Cleveland Police officials told city council Wednesday the department's growing overtime budget is justified and largely out of their control due to understaffing in certain areas.
鈥淭he overtime that you鈥檙e seeing, obviously, it鈥檚 something that we look at to make sure that all overtime is necessary, and it鈥檚 judiciously given to the officers working those particular hours,鈥� said Public Safety Director Wayne Drummond.
Safety Committee Chairperson Mike Polensek added the overtime discussion to Wednesday鈥檚 regular committee meeting after startling numbers on the department鈥檚 50 highest overtime earners were made public. Polensek called the overall figure for last year, $27 million, the highest in the city鈥檚 history.
The highest earner on that list, an officer in the Airport Unit, earned more than $176,000 for working 2825 hours in 2025. Each hour is paid time-and-a-half.
鈥淐ommon sense will tell you this person is working seven-days-a-week from morning 'til night,鈥� Polensek said. 鈥淎ll of us are of the opinion that鈥檚 not possible. That鈥檚 not possible, unless you want to put yourself in the coronary unit at Cleveland Clinic. There鈥檚 got to be some better explanation and oversight.鈥�
Salaries for officers assigned to the Airport Unit don鈥檛 come out of the general fund and the Federal Aviation Administration requires certain posts be covered by officers at the airport, according to Chief Annie Todd.
Todd added that staffing in that unit is short of what鈥檚 needed and officers are frequently called in to cover shifts.
鈥淲hen we talk about the airport staffing, I understand we have shortages, but the districts are my priority,鈥� Todd said. 鈥淚 hear every councilmember when they say traffic is an issue, when crime is an issue. And that is my priority to make sure we have more frontline officers and less on the support side.鈥�
Three of the top five officers on the list were assigned to the airport and just those three officers made a total of nearly $480,000 in overtime last year.
Todd said much of the overtime throughout the department is outside her control, citing protests that often occur without warning, staffing outside sporting events and issues like the recent wave of car break-ins in Downtown Cleveland.
鈥淭he demands in today鈥檚 day and age requires a lot more police activity and a lot more police presence beyond just the special events and district operations,鈥� Todd said.
The Division of Police only limits how many hours an officer can work during each 24-hour period to 16, but not how many consecutive days they can work.
The division recently changed to 12-hour shifts for patrol officers, but that has not brought down overtime costs as expected.
鈥淎 lot of the overtime, even in the top earners here, are not related to patrol operations,鈥� Todd said, citing heavy use in the airport and detective units.
Council is not considering taking any actions to rein in overtime but asked the department for more information on district staffing and the ranks of officers earning the most overtime.
