The Jackson Police Department employs 30 patrol officers and six sergeants working 12-hour shifts to provide patrol services 24 hours per day, every day. Eleven additional sworn employees work normal business hours to provide support to patrol functions as investigators and command staff.
In 2016, patrol officers, patrol sergeants, investigators and administrators worked a total of 77,855.25 regular hours, which makes up 86 percent of the total hours worked by Jackson Police Department personnel. Roughly 6,264 hours spread over all sworn employees was for vacation, accounting for 7 percent of the total hours worked; with sick time accounting for 2 percent and holiday time accounting for 1 percent of payroll hours. Overtime accounted for just over 4,000 hours in 2016, which makes up 4 percent of the total hours worked by department officers.
Overtime costs by sworn officers totaled $166,647 in 2016, while total sworn costs for the year highlight $3.22 million.
Of that $166,647 in overtime costs accrued in 2016, roughly $8,200 was grant-funded and paid for by the Office of Highway Safety Planning. About $28,500 was spent on “special overtime,” which includes patrolling events such as the Hot Air Jubilee, Eve on the Ave and others. About $9,000 was used for paying overtime of K9 handlers to maintain and care for the K9s. Holiday overtime accounts for $1,623 of the total overtime costs, with $93,846 of the costs coming from regular overtime used by sworn officers and administrators.
Court overtime costs make up $25,462 of the total overtime costs, and are strictly for time spent at court. Contract language requires payment of at least two hours of court overtime if the time spent at court is outside of normal patrol hours.