BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Overtime costs in the Buffalo Police Department have climbed by more than a third over the last five years, costing taxpayers more than $17 million in the last fiscal year, and it keeps going up.
That increase can partly be explained by wage hikes secured by the police union, along with the BPD's seniority system which involves the more senior officers getting first dibs at voluntary overtime.
But that's not the whole story. Not only are overtime costs rising each year, so are the number of overtime hours. But why? To answer that question, I asked for an interview with Police Commissioner Erika Shields, but the BPD denied that request.
Police Union President John Davidson says understaffing is the issue. He told me officers are often doing mandatory overtime to meet minimum staffing levels.
"In the last six months it's become a pressure cooker where we're 100 officers below, so that's where our overtime's coming from," Davidson said.
WATCH: Buffalo police overtime keeps climbing: here's why
While Davidson is right on paper, in practice it's not that simple. The BPD had around 715 active sworn officers in fiscal year 2026, which ended June 30. The department was budgeted for 813. However, historically the BPD does not fill all budgeted positions to leave room for staff turnover.
STAFFING: WHAT DOES THE DATA SAY?
Between fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2026, staffing in the BPD decreased by 44 full time employees according to a report by the city comptroller's office. That report also found overtime hours per full time employee increased in that time, from 288 to 328.
I took police overtime data published in the report, along with police employee numbers going back to 2010, provided by the city to dig further.
When compared with the 10-year average, I found the BPD is at below average staffing numbers by around 18 active sworn officers. I put this to Davidson.
"You're showing that year over year there's less officers than we need," Davidson said.
HOMICIDE UNIT HAS HIGH CONCENTRATION OF OVERTIME
Behind B-District, the homicide unit is the biggest driver of overtime, generating just under $2 million in overtime last fiscal year.
A BPD spokesperson told me the work by the unit has led to significant results as demonstrated by the department's clearance rate - - that's the percentage of homicides solved. The national average in 2025 was around 69% according to the Council on Criminal Justice, and the BPD has been above that over the last three years.
The BPD sent their clearance rate for homicides:
2024 - 93%
2025 - 75%
2026 YTD - 70%
In response to this story, a City of Buffalo spokesperson said: "We remain committed to recruiting more officers and are taking steps to be able to participate in the April 2027 Police Exam."
In the meantime, it's likely overtime is a topic of discussion in the ongoing contract negotiations between the police union and the city.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
