Public safety more important than cutting overtime

Overtime in the Naperville Police Department has been a point of discussion among City Council members for some time now.

Last year, police overtime cost a total of $3.2 million, slightly less than 10 percent of the department's $36.7 million budget.

This year, the council wants overtime costs reduced by 5 percent to about $3 million.

A special investigation in Sunday's Sun laid out the police overtime question and reasons for the overtime.

While we certainly applaud the council's efforts to closely monitor the city's finances, we view a police operation as one that does not easily practically conform to a 9 to 5 day without extra hours worked.

In the Sun article, Police Chief David Dial raised a number of relevant points as to why the Police Department has as much overtime as it does.

One is a requirement of DuPage County that police officers appear in court in connection with criminal and traffic matters. Officers are paid overtime for court appearances and often appear in court on their days off or before their shifts begin.

Dial also pointed to those few serious crimes that Naperville does have, such as a recent murder, and said that if an officer is working on a hot lead in that investigation he or she is going to keep on working it even through what would be the normal end of a shift.

Naperville has also gained a statewide reputation for its tough stance on drunken driving - in 2006 it made more arrests than any department in the state with the exception of Chicago.

If an officer makes an arrest at the end of his shift, he has got to complete it.

One of the traditional ways in any business to reduce overtime is to hire more staff.

Dial concedes that this would diminish some overtime, but it would also generate overtime because the new officers would go out, make arrests, and then have to go to court.

He concludes that the money new officers would bring in wouldn't pay for their entire salaries and benefits.

Dial notes that the second part of the council's mandate to reduce overtime was not to compromise public safety while doing it.

That last we would certainly endorse.

Police protection is perhaps the most vital duty the city of Naperville has.

As much as it is desirable to save public money, public safety must not be compromised. If overtime in the Police Department is here to stay, so be it.