Can't get mad at a guy that is willing to work. Is it their bosses who don't higher enough people so the tax payers don't have to pay overtime? Nope - not their fault either, as they watch the trade off between OT and new hires. Gotta believe it is the lack luster laws on criminals, hence why we need cops standing at each station. Can we PLEASE get tougher on criminals.

Sheesh. Police officers are in the public view everyday for such more horrible things. Now we want to harp on them for working too much? If the hours are there and the work has to be covered, so be it. If the OT budget comes in below forecast, then why hammer the officers that are working more than what they are asked? In the business world dont they call that being a hard worker? But in the police world they want to liken it to being lecherous? Im confused.

I would like to know if they are assigned OT or allowed to work as much as they want; at my job, I have to get approval to work overtime when it's needed. If a transit cop can choose to work as much OT as he or she likes, I would like to know where to apply! I love to work and they obviously are short-staffed!

Nice to know that a transit cop makes more in OT in one year than I make in a year including 40 hours and OT!

"unplanned needs" seems like a silly definition for Vikings games...sort of know about them!

Chief Harrington is right. It is cheaper to hire existing cops on overtime than it is to hire and train the extra dozens of cops they need for Vikings and Twins games. Overtime is, ultimately, less expensive than hiring the total number of cops you need for surge at big events. Why the media doesn't understand that is beyond me. The departments budget for it, and it is often reimbursed by grants or from other funds.

If they are paying that much overtime, regardless of how much they've budgeted for, perhaps it's time to either rethink how you staff certain times or hire more officers. But that's not the biggest issue that should be looked at here. Not only is the overtime out of proportion but the transit police force itself is an inefficient use of resources. The transit system exists in other city and county law enforcement jurisdictions. It should be the local police departments and sharif's departments that deal with issues on the transit system, not an understaffed special police force. And then the money that that met council spends on these officers can be put into operating and improving our transit system, where it can be put to better use.

Blendedveg's makes an interesting point, although I don't buy it. If they have that much overtime for the events, it still means that they are generally understaffed because they can't shift staff time to the events and still provide good coverage with less overtime. And then, if all that overtime is for events like Vikings or Twins games, it seems likely that they are significantly overstaffing for those events. When city and transit police forces pull in extra staff for events, the officers usually end up just standing around in groups doing nothing. I don't think that's a good, efficient, or efficacious use of public resources.

Sometimes I feel like everybody is milking the system but me. Makes me want to be a transit cop if I can get 50K in overtime in addition to my salary!

Hey reporter-just a question-what does the overtime pay do to the retirement benefits? Does the average salary (including overtime) figure into the amount of payments that they receive as a retiree? And how effective is a 35 year old police officer working 10 hours of overtime per week versus a 56 year old officer working 15 extra hours a week? And from the looks of the photo, an out of shape officer to boot.