Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul says a measure approved Wednesday by the Metro Council to fund a police pay study will provide him with a comprehensive look at the total compensation package of local police officers, including salary, benefits and overtime pay, so that he can be better informed about where the BRDP falls short and how to make up that difference.
In the meantime, the chief is already tackling the sticky issue of police overtime pay with two new pilot programs aimed at cutting back on overtime costs. One program involves patrols in the area near the Police Station annex off Siegen Lane. Paul says officers were being paid overtime 24-hours a day to do routine patrols, even though calls for service in the area averaged slightly more than just two per day. Now, calls for service will be routed to officers on straight duty around the area of the nearby Mall of Louisiana.
Another program involves scaling back the use of officers working overtime to write traffic incident reports in the second and third police districts. Available officers in the area working straight time have been assigned to work that duty while the pilot program is being tested.
Paul says the idea is to manage the department’s overtime more efficiently, at a time when department funds are at a premium and the issue of police pay is at the forefront of public discussion. Data reportedly shows BRPD officers can earn more than their base salary of $33,968 by working overtime gigs.
“It’s just a matter of being creative,” says Paul, who doesn’t yet know how much the pilot programs might save. “We’re just trying to be better at being more accountable.”
While the chief is trying to become more creative and accountable with limited resources, he is anxiously awaiting the outcome of Saturday’s election, where voters will be asked to renew a little-known, 0.87-mill property tax to pay for police protection.
The tax, which has been on the books since 1958 but because of a legal snafu was never approved by voters, generates about $1.7 million of the department’s annual $92 million budget, and, though small, is important to ongoing operations.
“I don’t know if people understand how important it is, and we live in an anti-tax environment, not only here but nationwide,” Paul says. “I think people will argue they’re not getting the best service they can and I get that. But this goes to our budget to fund salaries and operations.”
