The Baltimore City Council is cracking down on police overtime.
For years it's caused the department to go millions of dollars over budget and now city council members will keep a closer eye on the department's books.
City council passed a resolution Monday night to start reviewing the police department's budget every month. The budget committee already has quarterly meetings where they monitor all agencies including the police department, but city council members felt that was not enough. So they passed a resolution to monitor and assess the department's funds every month.
The police department gets more than others in the city and is budgeted for over half a billion dollars. After the first quarter in 2018, the department is already $17-million over because of overtime.
Council members say this new resolution isn't set to hurt police officers, but to help manage the department's budget.
“Our police officers are telling me their tired and it’s not safe for them," explained Baltimore City Council member Brandon Scott. "But also people need to understand this is about fiscal responsibility for the city. This isn’t anti-police this anti misuse of taxpayer dollars. We just want the police department to operate in a way that is not consistent with going over the budget."
City council members will start this monthly monitoring in August.
