Off-duty court appearances are the third most significant reason for police overtime. The Police Department logged 53,774 hours in court overtime during FY 1995-96, which represented 18.5 percent of all General Fund non-holiday overtime hours in that year.

Under General Order Manual Section 11.01, an officer is guaranteed:

• A minimum of three hours of overtime pay for appearing in court on a scheduled day off, regardless of the duration of the actual court appearance;

• A minimum of three hours overtime if scheduled to start work at noon and the court appearance occurs during the morning session, regardless of the duration of the actual court appearance; and,

• Up to three hours of overtime, if the officer is scheduled to appear in court before his or her regularly scheduled shift, depending on the time and duration of the court appearance.

The average court overtime appearance is approximately three hours. In many cases, the actual time spent in court may be much less.

The Department has implemented policies to reduce court overtime. For instance, the Department instituted a Municipal Court standby system whereby police officers call a message tape over the weekend, usually while on-duty, to determine when their cases will be heard the following week. Prior to the implementation of this system, officers would attend court everyday until their cases were heard.

In June 1994, the Department began a Superior Court standby system for all felony cases. Subpoenaed officers now call a message tape (usually while on-duty) the evening prior to the scheduled trial date to determine whether they will be needed in court the following day. Prior to the implementation of the Superior Court standby system, subpoenaed officers would attend court on Monday to find out if their trials would begin the next day, and receive at least three hours of overtime. Officers who were told that the case would continue would attend court everyday until their testimony was given. The implementation of these measures may have been the primary reason for the 30 percent decline in court overtime hours between FY 1992-93 and FY 1995-96, from 76,417 hours to 53,774 hours per year.

Court Standby Pay

An officer is paid two hours of court standby pay when required to call the message tape during specified hours on the evening or weekend prior to the scheduled date of a trial to determine whether he or she will be needed in court to testify the following weekday. Court standby pay is not tracked separately by the Police Department. However, the Fiscal Division estimates that police officers at the district stations use approximately 6,500 hours per year for court standby duty. Thus, there are an estimated 3,250 requests for court standby pay per year (equivalent to 6,500 court standby hours divided by two hours per request).

In accordance with General Order Section 11.01, court standby pay is paid at the same rate as overtime, even though is it not overtime. However, under Civil Service rules, standby pay is to be paid at the rate of 25 percent of an employee"s straight time rate of pay for a regular shift, which is equivalent to 2.5 hours of pay at the straight time rate (officers at the district stations work ten-hour shifts).

According to the Police Department, prior to 1984 court standby pay was paid in accordance with Civil Service rules. However, the Police Department advises that, after the approval of a 1983 Charter Amendment which authorizes the payment of sworn overtime at the rate of time and one-half rather than at the straight time rate, the Police Department started paying the two hours of standby pay also at the overtime rate. This change in practice was not authorized by, or consistent with the intent of the 1983 Charter Amendment.

An officer on court standby should receive 2.5 hours of straight time pay or $62.15 (the hourly rate for a police officer of $24.86 per hour x 2.5 hours), or $12.43 less than the current payment for court standby of $74.58 (the hourly overtime rate of $37.29 x two hours). This would result in a savings in court standby expenditures of $40,398 per year ($12.43 per request x 3,250 requests). Additionally, since court standby pay is a type of premium pay and not overtime, it should be budgeted in the Police Department"s annual premium pay budget.

Court Overtime for Preliminary Hearings

Police officers also incur court overtime hours while attending preliminary hearings in the Municipal Court during off-duty hours. At the preliminary hearing, the judge determines whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to go to trial. The arresting officer is required to be present at the preliminary hearing in order to provide testimony. However, in many cases, more than one officer is involved in an arrest.

Prior to 1989, all officers present at an arrest were required to attend the preliminary hearing. However, in 1989, Proposition 115 was approved by California voters, which allowed the presentation of "hearsay" evidence during a preliminary hearing. Thus, under Proposition 115, an officer present at the scene of an arrest is permitted to provide testimony on the actions of other officers present at the scene.

Based on a prior study conducted by the Coro Foundation regarding the effects of Proposition 115 on the SFPD, about two-thirds of court overtime hours are for preliminary hearings. [1] Thus, of the 53,774 court overtime hours incurred in FY 1995-96, an estimated two-thirds, or approximately 36,000 court overtime hours, were for preliminary hearings.

According to the Police Department, an average of three sworn officers are subpoenaed to testify during preliminary hearings. If this number were reduced to two officers, this would result in a reduction of one-third of the Court Overtime hours required for preliminary hearings, or 12,000 court overtime hours. This equates to an estimated annual savings of $462,000, based on the average overtime rate of $38.50 per hour x 12,000 hours. If the number of officers attending preliminary hearings were reduced to one officer, as is permitted under Proposition 115, this would result in a reduction of 24,000 court overtime hours, for an estimated annual savings of $924,000.

As of the writing of this report, the Budget Analyst had been advised by the Police Department that the Department is currently meeting with the District Attorney"s Office to coordinate the implementation of Proposition 115. The Board of Supervisors should request that the Mayor and the District Attorney report back on the status of implementation within three months after the acceptance of the recommendations contained in this report.

Conclusions

Although court overtime expenditures have declined by 30 percent since FY 1992-93 due to progressive policy changes implemented by the Police Department, court overtime continues to represent the third most significant reason for police officer overtime in the SFPD.

Officers receive two hours of overtime for court standby, which is contrary to Civil Service rules which only require payment of 2.5 hours of straight time.

In addition, San Francisco has not implemented Proposition 115, which would result in a significant savings in overtime expenditures for the Police Department. Proposition 115 authorizes individual police officers to present the reports of other officers as hearsay evidence at preliminary hearings, reducing the number of officers required to attend court.

Paying court standby pay at the straight time rate -- in accordance with Civil Service rules -- and implementing the provisions of Proposition 115, would result in reduced court overtime expenditures for the Police Department of up to $964,398 per year.

Recommendations

The Chief of Police should:

3.2.1 Amend General Order Manual Section 11.01 to provide that members placed on court standby status will receive 2.5 hours of straight time pay per day instead of two hours of overtime pay.

3.2.2 Continue collaboration with the District Attorney"s Office, and the Public Defender"s Office as appropriate, to implement the provisions of Proposition 115.

The Deputy Chief of Administration should:

3.2.3 Develop a method to track and report court standby hours separately from other court overtime.

3.2.4 Budget court standby expenditures in the Police Department"s annual premium pay budget.

Costs and Benefits

There would be no cost to implement these recommendations.

The payment of court standby pay at the straight time rate, in accordance with Civil Service rules, and the implementation of Proposition 115 would result in reduced court overtime expenditures of up to $964,398 per year.

Separate budgeting of court standby pay in the Police Department"s annual premium pay budget would permit the Department to more easily track the use of court standby hours.

Footnotes

1. Hatamiya, Leslie, "The Impact of Proposition 115 on the San Francisco Police Department," Coro Foundation, October 1990.