Summary
Potential annual savings of over $7 million were identified by a study on Philadelphia’s police-court overtime costs, commissioned by the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (“PICA”), the City’s fiscal watchdog. The focus of the project was to identify areas for process improvement, streamlined collaboration and increased communication between agencies in an attempt to better manage court appearance-related overtime costs. PICA Board Chair Kevin Vaughan stated that, “PICA has been at the forefront of recent efforts to reduce the City’s overtime costs; therefore, the Board felt a study on this critical area of overspending was needed.” The study disclosed the following primary causes that contribute to excess police-court overtime due to the current inefficient system: • Police officers who are not essential to case success, and who may not testify, still receive subpoenas, resulting in additional overtime; • More officers than necessary may be subpoenaed to preliminary hearings; • The subpoena process is not always initiated in a timely manner, causing some subpoenas to be sent within 48 hours of the appearance date, leading court overtime to be paid at 2.5 times the normal hourly rate; and, • Current systems do not allow for timely and accurate insight into police officer schedules, leading to court date selection that may not optimize police officer’s schedules, resulting in additional overtime. The study also made several recommendations aimed at more efficient management of police-court overtime. They include leveraging technology to reduce and manage court overtime; providing proactive oversight and enhancing internal controls; and focusing on avoidable overtime costs. “The Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, and First Judicial District should work collaboratively and implement these recommendations in a timely manner in order to maximize cost savings,” said Vaughan.