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A comment on One Oakland police officer made $490k in overtime. Parent comment

Re:One Oakland police officer made $490k in overtime by ericmay on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @12:37PM (#49348300)
I'm not an expert in police staffing levels, just poking around and asking questions. This seems interesting from your second link:

  > The number of Oakland Police Department officers has varied from a low of 626 (in 1996 and in 2012) to a high of 814 (in 2002). There were 723 officers at the end of 2015. The city's strategic plan recommended 925 officers, and an independent study commissioned by the city in the mid-1990s recommended 1,200 officers. As of 2025, the city employed only 675 police officers, budgeted for only 600, and of these, 100 were on leave.
Maybe that explains some of the overtime numbers?
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Re:One Oakland police officer made $490k in overtime by triceratops on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @12:49PM (#49348545)
1 in 6 officers were on leave the entire year? What is that about?

Like I wrote in another comment, both can be simultaneously true. The department is both understaffed and possibly does not manage its overtime well.

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Re:One Oakland police officer made $490k in overtime by ericmay on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @02:59PM (#49350860)
> 1 in 6 officers were on leave the entire year? What is that about?

No clue my friend. Public sector unions do weird things.

> Like I wrote in another comment, both can be simultaneously true. The department is both understaffed and possibly does not manage its overtime well.

I didn't see that comment, but I don't disagree with you. I was just trying to understand a little more about the staffing levels.

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