Boston Police Department overtime spending has nearly doubled in the last decade, topping $100 million for the first time in 2024 and staying there last year.

Why it matters: Critics say the sustained surge in police overtime goes beyond budget anomalies and shows structural problems in how the department is staffed and scheduled.

By the numbers: BPD overtime spending has grown 65% since 2015, an analysis of city records shows.

• Overtime spending was between $61 million and $67 million from 2015 to 2017.
• The number spiked to $77.9 million in 2018.
• The first year with more than $100 million spent on BPD overtime was 2024, at $103.2 million.
• Overtime spending fell slightly last year to $101.7 million.

The big picture: The costs concentrate on individual officers.

• Nearly 100 officers a year earn $100,000 or more in overtime alone.
• In 2025, Lt. Stanley Demesmin collected $236,961 in overtime and Capt. Timothy Connolly logged $228,924.

State of play: The department has shed 208 full-time-equivalent positions, a 7.2% decline, over the last five years.

• The lack of bodies forces districts to rely on mandatory overtime to meet minimum shift requirements.

The intrigue: The city charter says overtime can be used only as an emergency measure, but it's become standard operating procedure to use overtime to cover non-emergency shifts.

• Mayor Michelle Wu and her predecessors have come under fire for setting aside far too little funding for overtime in the city budget, only to blow past that amount once a budget is approved.
• The City Council wants to hold a hearing looking into how police overtime works in Boston.

What they're saying: Accurately budgeting for the real cost of police overtime would look like a massive increase to the BPD budget, and that would be hard to explain to residents, according to Wu.

• "It would be seen as a 20 to 30 percent increase in that budget, which is not palatable, and it's hard to get that nuance out," Wu told the Globe this month.

Between the lines: Hiring more officers to fill non-emergency shifts hasn't historically helped.

• A 2023 ACLU report found that higher staffing levels correlate with higher overtime costs.

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Mayor Michelle Wu is part of a new global coalition of 10 city leaders focused on AI policy and deployment.

The big picture: Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins are launching a Mayors AI Forum, to give local officials a direct role in shaping how AI is deployed in cities and communities.

What they're saying: "Mayors have often been early leaders on global challenges," said Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and former New York mayor.

• Founding members include Wu and mayors from London, San Francisco, Madrid, Tokyo and Kyiv, representing more than 100 million people.
• The forum builds on other mayor-focused playbooks, including a Google-backed playbook to help city leaders test and scale AI tools.
• Bloomberg's initiative puts more emphasis on peer learning and implementation across cities.

Zoom in: The goal is to bring together mayors across major tech hub cities who can share insights but also develop city-specific insights and best practices.

• Scenario planning: Working through up to four "AI-futures" for each city, including best and worst cases for how the technology could impact local economies.
• Briefings: Participants will get access to closed-door meetings with Big Tech executives and global policymakers.

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⚠️ The Boston Athletic Association is facing backlash over a statement condemning "hatred of any kind" without naming a spectator caught giving a Nazi salute and stomping on an Israeli flag during the marathon. (Boston.com)

🏦 Boston police and the FBI are seeking suspects after two armed bank robberies hit Roxbury and Roslindale within two hours yesterday, with the same Toyota RAV4 used in both getaways. (WCVB)

⚖️ Boston agreed to pay $850,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by four protesters who alleged excessive force by police during 2020 demonstrations. (Boston Globe)

🎓 Lesley University's unionized faculty went on strike Tuesday after two years of stalled contract talks over wages and financial transparency. (Boston Business Journal)

🏢 Amazon is going back to work on its second Seaport office at One Boston Wharf Road, putting its long-delayed move-in on track for 2027.

• Amazon signed the lease for the building in 2021 but pushed back occupancy to 2027.
• The buildout includes offices, conference rooms, amenity spaces and mechanical and safety systems.

🏛️ Boston approved a framework plan for Harvard's 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus in Allston, setting the stage for decades of development.

• The plan envisions 4 to 6 million square feet of construction split among commercial, residential and flexible uses.

🛍️ The Chanel and Cartier storefronts on Newbury Street were purchased for a combined $113.5 million.

• The deal works out to roughly $4,000 per square foot, nearly $1,000 more per square foot than a Ralph Lauren store on the same block sold for last year.
• Asking rents along Newbury Street are nearly three times the Greater Boston average.

Massachusetts cannabis shops hit a new high on 4/20 this year, taking in $5.88 million in revenue in a single day, according to a Lit Alerts analysis.

By the numbers: That's a 56.9% jump compared to last year.

• The four-day weekend window (April 17–20) saw $19.1 million spent on weed in the state, an 18% year-over-year increase.

Of note: It looks like many doobies were passed on 4/20. Pre-rolls saw a big spike in popularity during the window, according to the breakdown.

What's next: Analysts expect "Green Wednesday" — the day before Thanksgiving — and the December holiday season to surpass 4/20 in sales.