Chicago Criminal lawyer sees the relation between decreased crime and overtime for Chicago Police

This Chicago Criminal attorney has posted here and here about the decrease in crime.  Now there’s a perfectly logical explanation for the decrease in crime.  So sorry, it has nothing to do with human beings just treating each other better.

May 1, Chicago, Il

 A key alderman says the Chicago Police Department's overtime spending is "alarming," having more than doubled over the last five years to more than $37 million in 2009.

"We're short officers, and a lot of overtime is going to fill those gaps," said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), newly appointed chairman of the Police Committee. "I also know officers go to court quite a bit, and if they make an arrest at the end of their shift, there are reports to fill out."

The city paid $18.5 million in police overtime in 2005, $33.8 million in 2006 and $37.1 million in 2009 -- its highest in eight years, according to figures obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Police officials attribute the enormous rise from 2005 to 2006 to officers landing a new contract with the city. Their 2006 paychecks included three years of retroactive pay increases.

The big jump in 2009 was partly because of a legal settlement that required $3.5 million in overtime payments to officers.

Also last year, more officers were responding to the recession by taking their overtime payments immediately, instead of waiting until retirement to cash out or taking compensatory time off, said Lt. Maureen Biggane, a police spokeswoman.

It’s shouldn’t be a surprise to us that sometimes what you pay for is what you get.