LA Throws Mountains Of Cash At Hollow Police Force Fighting City Chaos

Los Angeles spent a record-shattering $1.1 billion in overtime in 2024 while just 8,620 officers — the thinnest blue line since 1995 — grapple with nightly bedlam across the city, according to a new OpenTheBooks analysis released Tuesday.

Police, firefighters and other public employees logged extreme overtime hours, propelling some rank-and-file workers’ compensation packages above that of the president of the United States

Police, firefighters and other public employees logged extreme overtime hours to cope with a wave of crises and chronic staffing shortages, propelling some rank-and-file workers’ compensation packages above those of top city officials — and even the president of the United States, according to the analysis. (RELATED: Josh Hawley Launches Investigation Into Who Is Funding LA Riots)

The report found that overtime costs “reached new heights in 2024” — reaching totals high enough to pay off the city’s entire budget deficit and spare the 1,600 frontline workers now facing termination, according to a May letter to City Council. The The city, meanwhile, is eyeing short-term rentals — hailed in the budget memo as a “major tax revenue generator” — as a key way to plug its widening deficit.

The eye-popping sum comes as Los Angeles grapples with mounting public safety challenges in 2025.

Throughout January, a series of devastating wildfires from Pacific Palisades to Altadena battered fire crews and infrastructure — at one point firefighters arrived at blazing neighborhoods only to find empty hydrants as water lines faltered. The University of California, Los Angeles estimated the fires caused total property losses of up to $131 billion. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: With Wildfires Raging And No Help Coming, A Few Neighbors Took Matters Into Their Own Hands)

Over the past week, protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) escalated into rampant violence and disorder, with arson attacks and assaults on officers leaving the LAPD “overwhelmed” by the chaos, the police chief told CBS News.

City officials acknowledge the strain. LAPD chief Jim McDonnell admitted on June 9 the situation was “out of control” as clashes intensified. Federal reinforcements have been called in as well — President Donald Trump ordered National Guard troops and the Marine Corps to assist, a 60-day deployment expected to cost taxpayers $134 million, a senior Pentagon official told lawmakers last week.

These crises struck on the heels of years of pandemic-era strain: prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials shrunk city revenues and staffing, putting Los Angeles in a uniquely precarious position as it faces what could be a long, turbulent summer.

As emergency personnel struggles to deal with numerous crises, the brunt of the financial toll lands on the city itself through police and firefighter overtime. Los Angeles has now entered a “record-breaking era of overtime pay,” the OpenTheBooks report warns, which could keep costs elevated as first responders continue to work around the clock.

Nowhere is the overtime surge more evident than in the LAPD. The department spent $265.5 million on overtime last year — an all-time high, and a $100 million jump since 2019, city budget data shows. Prior to 2024, no LAPD officer had ever earned more than $235,000 in a single year, but in 2024 it happened seven times. Detective Nathan Kouri topped the list, logging $404,875 in overtime pay on top of his regular salary, for a total compensation of $603,887, according to the report. Thirty-five other LAPD officers also cleared at least $400,000 in overall pay for the year.

LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.

“In overtime alone, five people earned more than the $400,000 salary we pay the President of the United States,” the OpenTheBooks report noted.

Even Mayor Karen Bass, who earned about $328,000 last year, was out-earned by dozens of her own employees once overtime was factored in, the report said. Overall, 4,114 city workers took home more in 2024 than the governor’s $242,295 salary. (RELATED: Blue City Could Lose Control Of Its Billion-Dollar Homelessness Budget)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 8: California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

Firefighters and utility workers saw similar windfalls. In fact, the city’s ten highest-paid employees of 2024 all came from the Fire Department or Department of Water and Power (DWP), each collecting between $610,000 and $905,000 in total compensation, according to OpenTheBooks. LAFD Battalion Chief Nicholas Ferrari was the top earner, pulling in $905,060 last year — including a staggering $644,456 just in overtime. Over the 2021 through 2024, Ferrari reportedly collected more than $2.5 million from the city’s coffers.

Neither LAFD nor DWP responded to requests for comment.

Another notable case was Ricardo Pacheco, an electric distribution mechanic at DWP, who earned $425,632 in overtime pay in 2024 on top of his regular wages, the analysis reads. In total, 2,092 Los Angeles employees earned at least $100,000 in overtime last year, with firefighters and DWP ranking highest among them.

OpenTheBooks says these eye-popping payouts are symptomatic of a severe staffing shortfall that has forced remaining employees to work extreme hours. Vacancies in Los Angeles have spiked since the pandemic, jumping from 11% pre-pandemic to a 17.5% job vacancy rate as of December 2023, according to the report. More than 2,000 city workers took early retirement in 2020 as part of a cost-cutting program after the pandemic hit revenues, hollowing out the workforce.

Hiring new employees has proven difficult. Dana Brown, head of the city’s personnel department, blamed “archaic” civil service rules for lengthy hiring delays in a 2023 interview with LAist — noting applicants often wait six months or more in the pipeline — which has hampered efforts to replenish the ranks. Police recruiting hasn’t kept pace with the attrition: the LAPD received 53% more job applications in 2024 than in 2022, but slow background checks meant 9% fewer candidates were actually hired.

As a result, Los Angeles is trying to do more with fewer workers, and overtime has become the pressure valve. The report points out that while LAPD staffing has dropped to its lowest level in decades, payroll expenses haven’t dropped at all — they’ve actually grown. In 2020, the LAPD had 14,902 employees costing the city $1.71 billion; in 2024, it had only 12,617 employees but a payroll of $1.73 billion. Much of that gap is due to overtime.

“Between draconian lockdowns, inefficient onboarding processes and sky-high union-negotiated deals, Los Angeles is set to take a financial beating as it deploys officers and personnel to respond to the chaos,” the OpenTheBooks report concludes. (RELATED: ‘What A Stupid Question’: Karoline Leavitt Clashes With Reporter As She Attempts To Trip Her Up Over Riots)

City leaders say they’re taking steps to address the purported crisis. Earlier this month, Bass signed a new $13.9 billion city budget for 2025-26 that boosts funding for public safety and begins to rebuild depleted departments. Bass secured an agreement with the City Council to fund 240 additional LAPD recruits in the coming months, aiming to restore police staffing levels after retirements drove the force to a 20-year low. The budget also adds dozens of firefighter and paramedic positions.

Bass’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

“This budget has been delivered under extremely difficult conditions — uncertainty from Washington, the explosion of liability payments, unexpected rising costs and lower than expected revenues,” Bass said in a statement on June 7.

Whether those measures will be enough remains to be seen. For now, thousands of city employees continue to log intense overtime to fill the gaps, ensuring that critical services remain afloat during an unprecedented convergence of challenges.

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