Scoop: D.C. mayor needs $16 million to pay police for overtime

D.C. cops are working so much overtime that the mayor needs to shuffle more than $16 million in funding to cover their budget.

Why it matters: Overtime has ballooned in the Metropolitan Police Department, which worries experts that overworked cops are more prone to mistakes.

What's happening: $16.4 million is needed to cover overtime for the police department during this fiscal year, according to Mayor Muriel Bowser's request to the D.C. Council.

• Lawmakers need to sign off on the transfer of funds, which will come out of savings made from the budgets of other city agencies.

What they're saying: "It's no secret that MPD is short sworn officers," Jenny Reed, a D.C. budget director, told Axios in a statement.

Zoom in: Some officers work so much overtime they earn more than the mayor, a DCist investigation found this week.

• One officer whose base salary was $114,000 hauled in a total of $361,000.
• He worked the equivalent of 13-hour days — every single day of the year, DCist reported.
• "No evidence of time fraud" has been found among the big earners, police spokesperson Paris Lewbel told the outlet.

What's next: The Judiciary Committee and council budget office said they were still seeking more information from Bowser's administration about the request, which is part of a larger funding transfer push from the mayor.