New York City Has Paid Out $53 Million in Overtime to Officers Policing Protests Since October 7
New York’s police department says it has spent more than $5 million on overtime pay for officers between April 21 and May 7 alone.
The New York City Police Department has spent some $53 million on overtime responding to protests across the city since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, police said on Thursday.
In testimony before a City Council budget hearing, police officials said that officers had racked up hundreds of thousands of hours of overtime responding to antisemitic protests that have popped up across the city since the attacks.
The police said that they had spent more than $5 million on overtime pay for officers between April 21 and May 7 alone.
During that time period, police have arrived in riot gear to clear student encampments at schools like New York University, The New School, and Columbia University.
The overtime expenses for police are part of a larger set of unplanned expenditures, with the city spending heavily to increase police presence on the subway, crack down on protesters, and house migrants, Gothamist reports.
According to the city’s police oversight agency, there have been 40 complaints filed against police officers in connection with protests in the last seven months.
