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Staff Report 2509-5171
CITY OF PALO ALTO Policy & Services Committee Special Meeting Tuesday, May 12, 2026 6:00 PM Agenda Item 1.Office of the City Auditor Presentation of the Public Safety Staffing & Overtime Audit Staff Presentation 8 1 4 7 Policy & Services Committee Staff Report From: City Manager Report Type: ACTION ITEMS Lead Department: City Auditor Meeting Date: May 12, 2026 Report #:2509-5171 TITLE Office of the City Auditor Presentation of the Public Safety Staffing & Overtime Audit RECOMMENDATION The Office of the City Auditor recommends the Policy & Services accept the results of the Public Safety Staffing & Overtime Audit Report. BACKGROUND Baker Tilly Advisory, in its capacity serving as the Office of the City Auditor (OCA), performed a citywide risk assessment that evaluated a wide range of risk areas, including strategic, financial, operational, compliance, technological, and reputational risks. The purpose of the assessment was to identify and prioritize risks to develop the annual audit plan. OCA identified public safety staffing and use of overtime (OT) as potential areas of risk and included the topic in the FY25 Audit Plan. ANALYSIS The objective of the Public Safety Staffing and Overtime audit was to determine if sworn personnel at the Palo Alto Police and Fire Departments are effectively and efficiently staffed including use of OT. The Palo Alto Police and Fire Departments play a critical role in protecting public safety and delivering essential emergency services to the community. The Police Department provides 24/7 law enforcement services that include emergency response, criminal investigations, traffic enforcement, and community policing. The Fire Department operates six fire stations staffed by firefighters and paramedics who provide fire suppression, rescue, and emergency medical services. The department also supports regional and national emergency response efforts through mutual aid and disaster deployments. 8 1 4 7 The audit was initiated to assess whether Police and Fire Departments are managing staffing levels and OT in an efficient, effective, and sustainable manner. The audit examined the adequacy of staffing relative to service demands, scheduling practices and workload distribution and the policies sand controls governing OT authorization and monitoring. The audit also evaluated the systems used to record and report staff time while also considering the broader impacts of OT on budgets, employee well-being, and service delivery. Both departments operate in a high-demand environment, providing round-the-clock emergency response and public safety services. FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT 8 1 4 7 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ATTACHMENTS APPROVED BY: A April 30, 2026 City of Palo Alto Office of the City Auditor Public Safety Staffing and Overtime Audit Contents Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, operate under an alternative practice structure and are members of the global network of Baker Tilly International Ltd., the members of which are separate and independent legal entities. Baker Tilly US, LLP is a licensed CPA firm that provides assurance services to its clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities provide tax and consulting services to their clients and are not licensed CPA firms. Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Best Practices Overview ................................................................................................................... 11 Audit Results ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Palo Alto Police Department ............................................................................................................ 14 Palo Alto Fire Department ................................................................................................................ 30 Executive Summary Purpose of the Audit Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP (Baker Tilly), in its capacity serving as the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) for the City of Palo Alto (the City), conducted a Public Safety Staffing and Overtime (OT) Audit based on approved Task Order 4.33 as part of the City’s FY25 Audit Plan. The objective of this audit was to: • Determine if sworn personnel at the Palo Alto Police Department (Police) and Palo Alto Fire Department (Fire) are effectively and efficiently staffed including use of OT. Please note that OT used by public safety dispatchers was assessed separately in 2025 and their use of OT was not considered as part of this audit. Report Highlights Palo Alto Police Department (Page 12) operational demands. Although the Police Department generally maintains minimum patrol staffing levels, overall staffing has not returned to pre-pandemic levels and, at times, a portion of the sworn workforce is unavailable for deployment due to injury leave or training assignments. As a result, the number of officers available for field operations may be lower than authorized staffing levels, placing additional strain on operations and limiting resources available for functions such as investigations. OCA also found that Police’s minimum staffing standards have not been formally reassessed in more than two decades, despite changes in service demand and crime trends. While PAPD has generally maintained stable response times, the absence of a recent staffing analysis makes it difficult to determine whether current staffing levels and deployment strategies remain appropriate. Key Observations: 1. The Police Department has not returned to pre-pandemic staffing levels. Average actual staffing declined by approximately 10 staff from FY2015– FY2019 to 139 FTEs in FY2024. 2. During FY25 and the beginning of FY26 approximately 20 employees were not deployable. During FY2025 and early FY2026, approximately 20 employees were unavailable for field deployment due to injury leave or training assignments. 3. Investigations have gone without resolution due to staffing constraints. Staffing constraints have resulted in personnel being reassigned from investigations to patrol, leaving some cases uninvestigated. 4. Minimum staffing standards have not been evaluated in over two decades. While Police generally meets minimum staffing levels, the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5. Police has not met response time goals but response times have slightly improved despite being understaffed. While Police has not met the performance measure of answering 90% of emergency calls within 6 minutes and 90% of urgent calls within 10 minutes, response times have been trending positively since FY2021. Key Recommendations: • Consider over-hiring for positions affected by long-term leave to maintain adequate deployable staffing levels and leverage normal attrition for balancing staffing levels if needed. • Expand recruitment and retention efforts to address ongoing staffing shortages and strengthen the hiring pipeline. • Conduct a comprehensive staffing analysis using data on workload, calls for service, response times, crime trends, and deployable personnel. • Reassess minimum patrol staffing standards to ensure they reflect current service demands and operational needs. Finding 2: (Page 17) Police relies heavily on OT to maintain minimum staffing levels. Police sustained OT usage has largely been driven by staffing shortages and high vacancy levels. OT expenditures have consistently exceeded the City’s budget since 2015 and in recent years have been more than double the budgeted amount. Analysis indicates a strong correlation between increased vacancy days and higher OT expenditures, demonstrating that OT is primarily being used to maintain minimum staffing levels rather than address temporary operational needs. While this approach enables the department to maintain service levels in the short term, heavy reliance on OT may create long-term operational and workforce risks, including employee fatigue, reduced morale, and potential impacts on safety and performance. A more strategic approach to budgeting, staffing, and workload distribution may help the City better manage OT and support sustainable police operations. Key Observations: • Vacancies are a primary driver of OT usage. Analysis of FY2015–FY2024 data shows a clear relationship between vacancy days and OT expenditures; as vacancies increase, OT usage rises to compensate for staffing gaps. • Overtime use in CY2024 was largely driven by meeting minimum staffing levels. In 2024, approximately 81% of patrol OT was attributed to minimum staffing needs such as backfilling vacancies, early call-ins, and hold-over shifts. • OT concentration suggests potential workload imbalances and burnout. While 82% of employees recorded OT hours, the top 10 employees accounted for more than 25% of total OT, suggesting potential workload imbalances. Survey results show public safety employees report lower morale EXECUTIVE SUMMARY rate morale as good or excellent), and staff indicated that OT levels are often higher than desired. • OT is not assessed as part of reviewing Workers’ Compensation cases, vehicle crashes or use-of-force incidents. Although a direct causal relationship cannot be confirmed, increased OT and staff absences may contribute to a cycle where remaining employees work additional OT to maintain staffing levels. The department and Independent Police Auditor review use-of-force incidents but do not assess whether officers involved were working OT, limiting opportunities to identify potential risk factors. Studies from oversight bodies in other cities indicate extended OT can increase the likelihood of complaints, workplace injuries, and use- of-force incidents. Key Recommendations: • Align OT budgets with operational needs. The City should reassess the PAPD’s OT budget to better reflect actual operational demands and historical spending trends, improving transparency and financial planning. • Evaluate the balance between staffing levels and OT use. PAPD, in coordination with the City’s budget and human resources offices, should periodically analyze vacancy rates, workload demands, and service expectations to determine whether adjustments to staffing levels or OT practices are needed. • Explore opportunities for civilianization. The department should evaluate whether certain administrative, technical, or support functions currently performed by sworn officers could be reassigned to civilian staff to reduce workload pressures and limit reliance on OT. Finding 3: (Page 23) The Police Department does not consistently collect or analyze key workforce data that could help evaluate recruitment effectiveness, staffing sustainability, and potential operational risks associated with OT. In particular, the department does not formally track police academy success rates or probationary outcomes, limiting its ability to assess recruitment and training effectiveness or accurately forecast staffing needs. Additionally, OT hours are not currently considered when reviewing safety- related incidents such as workers’ compensation claims, police vehicle crashes, or use-of-force events. Strengthening workforce data collection and incorporating OT analysis into operational reviews would support more data-driven decision-making and help the department better manage staffing, performance, and officer well-being. Key Observations: • Police academy success rates are not currently tracked. PAPD does not maintain comprehensive data needed to evaluate recruitment outcomes, training success rates, or long-term staffing sustainability. • Effects of OT are not considered in safety related incidents. The EXECUTIVE SUMMARY workers’ compensation claims, employee injuries, mental health concerns, vehicle crashes, or use-of-force incidents. Key Recommendations: • Formally track police academy outcomes. PAPD should establish a process to monitor recruitment levels, academy completion rates, probationary success rates, and reasons for separation to better evaluate recruitment and training effectiveness and improve workforce planning. • Analyze OT in safety incident reviews. PAPD should include OT hours as a factor when reviewing workers’ compensation claims, vehicle crashes, and use-of-force incidents to identify potential fatigue-related risks. (Page 32) decisions based on inaccurate data. The City’s internal processes for tracking, analyzing, and reporting OT within the Police department relies heavily on manual data entry and fragmented systems, which increases the risk of data inaccuracies and limits the City’s ability to effectively monitor OT usage. Inconsistent reporting methods, lack of automation, and discrepancies between internal reports reduce confidence in the data used to inform staffing and budgetary decisions. Additionally, limitations within the City’s timekeeping system and the absence of standardized OT categorization hinder the City’s ability to analyze the root causes of OT. Strengthening automation, improving data integration, and enhancing reporting practices would improve transparency, support better workforce planning, and help the City more effectively manage OT costs. Key Observations: • Timekeeping Systems Are Incompatible. Police’s scheduling systems cannot interface directly with the City's central timekeeping system. Data exports from departmental scheduling platforms do not share common identifiers or structures with City timecard records, making cross-system indexing unreliable and labor-intensive. • Departmental Data Access Is Insufficient for Effective Overtime Management. Police receives limited payroll data from the City's central payroll function which is not easily reconciled against departmental overtime tracking efforts. The structural gap between what departments can see and what central systems produce limits the reliability and comparability of internal management reporting. • The OMB Quarterly Public Safety OT Analysis Is Not Actionable at the Department Level. The Quarterly Public Safety OT Analysis produced by OMB presents overtime data in aggregated form and is effective at reporting broadly to the public but lacks the employee-level detail departments need to identify patterns, investigate anomalies, or intervene in overtime spending. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • Previous audit findings remain unaddressed. Issues identified in the 2017 Continuous Monitoring Audit of OT 1—including limited SAP data capture, non-standardized timecard notes, and inconsistent departmental tracking— continue to affect OT monitoring. Key Recommendations: • Revisit and assess prior audit recommendations from the 2017 OT audit, including developing a continuous monitoring system to analyze service demand, absences, vacancies, and policy requirements, have not been fully implemented to support management of OT costs. • Improve OT data collection, system integration, and reporting, as well as exploring extending use of Telestaff, the OT tracking and monitoring system in use by the Fire department, to Police. Finding 5: (Page 25) concern. While Fire has recently increased deployed resources and restored some services across fire stations, challenges remain due to lengthy hiring and training timelines, vacancy-driven OT, and the need to ensure staffing and deployment align with increases in service demand. Continued workforce planning and improved monitoring of OT will be important to support sustainable operations and maintain service levels. Key Observations: • In recent years, the City has added Fire resources. In FY2025, 3.0 FTE were added to restore Fire Engine 62 from a two-person squad. In FY2026, 3.0 FTE Fire Captains were added to cross-staff Medic 64 with Fire Engine 64. In FY2026, 7.0 FTE were added to create a new Single Role Ambulance response division, by adding a 12-HR Peak Ambulance to the deployed resources. • While Fire was meeting some KPIs, staffing challenges may have impacted other response times and violation follow-up. Fire has not consistently achieved its eight-minute fire response target. Staffing constraints may have affected timely follow-up on fire code violations. • Most OT is used to meet minimum staffing requirements. Most OT is used to backfill vacancies, leave, and training absences. In addition, actual OT expenditures frequently exceed budgeted amounts suggesting OT has been used to compensate for staffing vacancies rather than as intended to manage schedules when firefighters are out for various types of leave. • Fire implemented structural changes to reduce forced mandatory OT Adjustments to OT scheduling 1 https://www.paloalto.gov/files/assets/public/v/1/city-auditor/z-old-reports/continuous-monitoring-audit-overtime.pdf EXECUTIVE SUMMARY implemented in FY2023 have improved fairness and reduced forced OT hours. Key Recommendations: • Strengthen workforce planning and hiring pipeline management to account for attrition and long training timelines. • Periodically evaluate staffing levels and deployment against service demand to ensure resources align with service demand. • Improve OT monitoring and workforce sustainability to better manage fatigue and staffing risks. • Improve budget transparency and operational efficiency by aligning budgets with historical trends and continuing process improvements. Introduction 2 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6617405/ Safety Departments (Fire and Police) are effectively and efficiently staffed including use of OT. Alto Police Department (Police) and Palo Alto Fire Department (Fire) are managing staffing and OT in an efficient, effective, and sustainable manner. The audit includes examining: the adequacy of current staffing levels relative to service demands; scheduling practices and how workloads are distributed; the policies and controls in place for authorizing and monitoring OT; and the impacts of OT on budget, employee well-being, and service delivery. OT expenditures in Palo Alto have regularly exceeded budgeted amounts. By analyzing OT drivers in Police and Fire, the City can find ways to control personnel costs. Additionally, ensuring proper staffing has safety implications: excessive OT can lead to fatigued first responders, which may affect their safety and performance on the job 2. To assess OT management, the audit also evaluated the systems and processes used by Police and Fire to record, approve, and report staff time and OT. Fire utilizes a program called Telestaff to manage scheduling and time reporting, while Police records staff time and overtime through the City’s Systems, Application, and Data (SAP) enterprise software and another scheduling system called PlanIt. The Police Department’s stated mission is to “proudly serve and protect the public with respect and integrity”. The department is a full-service law enforcement agency with approximately 87sworn officers (78 who are members of Palo Alto Police Officer Association [PAPOA]) serving a resident population around 67,000 (not counting a large daytime workforce and visitors) as reported in the FY2026 adopted budget. The department provides 24/7 emergency response, criminal investigations, traffic safety, and community policing services. The Fire Department operates 6 fire stations serving Palo Alto and Stanford University, staffed by 89 firefighters and paramedics in FY2026 who handle fire suppression, rescue, and emergency medical services. Dedicated to “safeguarding and enriching the lives of anyone, anytime, anywhere with compassion and pride”, the department also serves communities beyond Palo Alto through mutual aid agreements and when called upon by the State or Federal government for such services as combating large wildfires or providing medical response in emergencies. Both departments have high operational demands and at times rely on OT to meet staffing requirements and ensure public safety coverage. This round-the- clock staffing requirement, combined with challenges in keeping up with turnover, recruiting and retaining public safety personnel, has led to significant INTRODUCTION 3 https://www.paloalto.gov/files/assets/public/v/1/administrative-services/city-budgets/fy-2026-city- budget/proposed/fy-2026-proposed-operating-budget.pdf 4 https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/Fire/Frequently-Asked-Questions have grown further. In FY2024, the City paid $7.5 million in OT to Police and Fire employees 3. While OT is an expected tool to meet staffing needs for emergencies or special events, such figures may suggest that OT is being used to backfill routine staffing shortages. According to management, minimum staffing backfill challenges underlie much of this OT. Police has struggled with vacant FTEs and long-term benefited leave such as sick leave, retirement, and workers’ compensation. For instance, in 2018 it had a 17% vacancy rate (14 of 83 sworn positions unfilled) despite offering pay raises and hiring bonuses to attract officers. Competition from neighboring jurisdictions and a difficult recruiting climate have made it hard to reach full staffing, forcing remaining officers to work extra shifts. As of March 2026, PAPD’s authorized sworn staffing levels remain below pre-pandemic levels. Fire has experienced chronic challenges with minimum staffing backfill. The deployed resources require a continuous schedule of employees on Fire Department units. When the department holds vacant FTEs, overtime is the only mechanism available to provide coverage for these positions. According to management, Police and Firefighters have some of the longest hiring-to-full- productivity timelines in the public sector. For example, it can be 10-12 months from a firefighter application posting to the day a new recruit is able to work on a unit. That entire time, current employees are providing coverage for that spot on a unit to maintain the deployed resources. Fire deployment resource levels were impacted by the pandemic. In FY2021, budget cuts led the City Council to temporarily reduce fire staffing and temporarily close fire station 2 on nights and weekends 4. Although those cuts were partially reversed in FY2022 with funding to staff all six stations again, Fire reported using OT to fill gaps from vacancies, sick leave, and training absences in order to keep all engine and ambulance companies in service. Within the last two years, Fire has restored some deployed resources and is similar to pre- pandemic levels. Finally, OCA noted from the City of Palo Alto’s 2024 Community Survey that 81% of respondents rated the quality of Police Services positively. Fire Services received 92% positive ratings for emergency response services and 80% positive ratings for prevention and education services. In response to the question, "As a resident of Palo Alto, what one change could the City make that would make you happier?" many residents expressed a desire for better funding and staffing of the fire and police departments. Specific concerns included the lack of fire trucks and staff at Mitchell Park, the need for more police services to enhance safety, and increased policing in neighborhoods. INTRODUCTION 5 Government auditing standards require an external peer review at least once every three (3) years. The last peer review of the Palo Alto Office of the City Auditor was conducted in 2017. The Palo Alto City Council approved a contract with Baker Tilly U.S, LLP for internal audit services for October 2020 through June 2022 with an extension through June 2025. City Council appointed Kate Murdock, Audit Manager in Baker Tilly’s Risk Advisory practice, as City Auditor in May 2024. As a result of transitions in the Audit Office and peer review delays due to the COVID pandemic, an external peer review is targeted for 2026. It should be noted that Baker Tilly’s most recent firmwide peer review was completed in November 2024 with a rating of “Pass”. The scope of that peer review includes projects completed under government auditing standards. A report on the next firmwide peer review should be available later in 2024. police and fire services but also underscore a desire for increased funding, staffing, and resources to further improve public safety and community design and implementation of time-tracking and OT reporting processes, including the internal controls in place to ensure accuracy, authorization, and • Interviewed the appropriate individuals to gain an understanding of the organizational structure, processes, and controls related to staffing and OT. • Analyzed policies and procedures as well as regulatory requirements to identify the criteria to be used for evaluation of control design and effectiveness. • Analyzed the complete list of Police and Fire employees and pay periods with higher OT utilization to assess the processes for time tracking, overtime recording, and supervisory review and approval. • OCA sampled employee time records from each department and the three highest-overtime months in 2024 and two highest-OT months in 2025. OCA conducted detailed testing for the selected employees and periods to assess compliance with applicable OT policies, labor agreements, and regulatory requirements. • Completed audit report of findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on the supporting evidence gathered. Statement This audit activity was conducted from January 2025 to March 2026 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, except for the requirement of an external peer review 5. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings, observations, and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings, observations, and conclusions based on our audit objectives. INTRODUCTION Organizational Strengths During this audit activity, we noted the professionalism and responsiveness of the PAPD and PAFD. We appreciated the participation of both departments in interviews, providing documentation for selected samples, and responding to follow-up requests. The OCA appreciates the support of the departments involved in conducting this audit activity. Thank you! Best Practices Overview 6 305747_Analysis of Police Department Staffing _ McCabe.pdf 7 NFPA 1710 Summary 8 GFOA_Rethinking-Police-Budgeting_7.14.25.pdf 9 Home | The Institute of Internal Auditors | The IIA Public Safety Staffing and OT Criteria Addressing staffing and OT challenges in public safety requires a clear understanding of what effective management looks like in practice. The following best practice principles draw from leading industry standards and professional organizations and reflect widely accepted approaches to managing police and fire department staffing in a manner that controls OT costs while sustaining effective public safety service delivery. Professional organizations researched include the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), International City/County Management Association (ICMA), International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Data-Driven Staffing and Workforce Planning Best practice indicates that staffing levels should be aligned with actual workload, service demand, and performance objectives. The ICMA Center for Public Safety Management recommends workload-based staffing models that evaluate calls for service, officer availability, and discretionary time rather than relying solely on historical minimum staffing levels6. For fire services, NFPA 1710 (Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments) provides nationally recognized benchmarks for crew size and response times 7. However Palo Alto Fire follows California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA), Title 8 standards requiring staffing be sufficient to perform fire response safely as well as a written procedure to implement firefighter safety. In addition, workforce planning literature from GFOA emphasizes incorporating long- term leave, retirement projections, and attrition rates into staffing forecasts to avoid structural reliance on OT. Persistent OT used to meet routine minimum coverage is widely recognized as an indicator that staffing models should be reassessed 8. OT Monitoring and Internal Controls The IIA identifies payroll and OT as high-risk expenditure areas requiring strong internal controls, routine monitoring, and data validation. The IIA’s Global Internal Audit Standards 9 emphasize continuous monitoring and use of analytics to identify anomalies and control weaknesses. The DOJ found that police OT can be effectively controlled through strong management practices, including systematic recordkeeping, analysis of OT trends, and supervisory oversight. The report emphasizes that while some OT is unavoidable BEST PRACTICES OVERVIEW 10 https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/167572.pdf 11 Officer Safety and Wellness 12 21OIGNYPD.OT.Rpt.Release.05.03.2023.pdf 13 kcao-overtime-2017.ashx staffing and policy decisions 10. Best practice includes automated data capture, reconciliation across systems, supervisory approval thresholds, and analysis of OT drivers (e.g., minimum staffing, vacancy backfill, special events). Fatigue Management and Risk Mitigation Public safety research indicates that excessive OT can impair performance and increase safety risks. The IACP advise departments to establish reasonable limits on consecutive hours worked, enforce rest periods, and monitor cumulative OT 11. Oversight bodies such as the New York City Police Department Office of Inspector General 12 and the King County Auditor’s Office 13 have found statistically significant relationships between extended OT and increased complaints, use-of-force incidents, and workers’ compensation claims. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), published The Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Fire Fighters and EMS Responders. The report identifies sleep disruption and fatigue as inherent risks in fire and EMS operations, documenting that insufficient or interrupted sleep impairs alertness, decision-making, reaction time, and overall responder performance. Critically, the IAFC notes that these impairments are not limited to extended wakefulness, even moderate disruption of nighttime sleep, such as that caused by repeated emergency calls between 10pm and 6am, can produce measurable cognitive degradation by the end of a shift. The IAFC additionally highlights that firefighters are at elevated risk for chronic, undiagnosed sleep disorders that further erode their capacity to perform safely under operational demands. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 1710) further establishes that safe and effective emergency response depends on maintaining adequate staffing and deployment levels rather than relying on extended work hours. Together, these authorities indicate that sustained reliance on overtime as a primary staffing mechanism can contribute to fatigue-related performance degradation, increased safety risk, and diminished workforce health, ultimately undermining the consistency and safety of emergency service delivery. Best practices therefore include enforcing daily and weekly hour limits, monitoring individual cumulative OT, and integrating OT data into early intervention systems. Fair and Transparent OT Distribution Public safety agencies should track OT usage at the individual employee level and periodically review workload distribution to ensure OT assignments are equitable. Monitoring OT allocation can help identify situations where a small number of employees are consistently working a disproportionate share of OT hours, which may increase fatigue risks and indicate underlying staffing or scheduling inefficiencies. BEST PRACTICES OVERVIEW 14 WorkforceCrisis.pdf 15 A Performance-Based Approach to Police Staffing and Allocation 16 NFPA Standard 1710 17 305747_Analysis of Police Department Staffing _ McCabe.pdf 18 Workforce Planning and Development | icma.org agencies should analyze workload and staffing distribution data to ensure resources are deployed effectively and personnel demands are balanced across staff. Transparent and consistent OT assignment procedures can help improve morale, reduce perceptions of favoritism, and distribute workload more sustainably across the workforce. Financial Oversight and Budget Integration Public safety agencies should regularly analyze OT expenditures alongside staffing levels to determine whether OT is being used for short-term operational needs or to compensate for persistent staffing gaps. Guidance from the DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office)15 notes that agencies should evaluate whether sustained OT usage indicates the need to adjust staffing levels, deployment models, or recruitment strategies. By analyzing OT trends in relation to vacancies, service demand, and staffing availability, agencies can better determine whether continued reliance on OT is operationally sustainable or whether additional staffing or alternative staffing models may be necessary. Performance Alignment and National Benchmarking Staffing models should support established performance goals. NFPA 1710 16 provides benchmarks for fire department deployment and response configuration. The ICMA 17 emphasizes periodic reassessment of staffing standards to ensure they align with evolving service demands, crime trends, and community expectations. Failure to reassess minimum staffing levels for extended periods is inconsistent with data-driven governance practices. Recruitment Pipeline and Training Metrics Effective workforce planning requires tracking academy enrollment, completion rates, attrition, probationary success, and time-to-deployment. Workforce analytics and public administration literature emphasize that hiring pipeline metrics are critical inputs into staffing projections and vacancy forecasting 18. Without structured tracking of academy outcomes, departments may underestimate attrition-driven staffing gaps. AUDIT RESULTS Audit Results Palo Alto Police Department 19 https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/Administrative-Services/City-Budget/Archived-Budget-Documents 20 City of Palo Alto Operating Budget.book Police may not have sufficient sworn staffing to meet operational demands. The department has not returned to pre-pandemic sworn staffing levels, at any given moment several employees are not deployable due to injury or enrollment in the training academy or in the field training program, and minimum staffing standards have not been reassessed in more than two decades. PAPD has not returned to pre-pandemic staffing levels. Our review of City budget documents 19 shows that PAPD has not returned to pre- pandemic staffing levels. From FY 2015 - FY 2019, actual full-time equivalents (FTEs) averaged 155. In FY2020, the department eliminating six positions shifting service delivery for animal services to an external vendor 20. Between Fy2021 and FY2022, FTEs dropped from 149 to 125. In recent years, staffing has increased to 139 FTES. While actual FTE counts are not available for FY25 and FY26 in the City’s budget documents, budgeted FTEs for these years were 141, still 8 FTE’s short of pre- pandemic levels. Exhibit 1: Number of Police Actual Full-Time Equivalents 2015 through 2024 *OCA analysis September 2025 155 155 155 155 155 149 149 125 134 140 0 40 80 120 160 200 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT During FY2025 and the beginning of FY2026 approximately 20 employees were not deployable. Although the PAPD appeared fully staffed based on its budgeted 141 FTEs, discussions with department personnel and review of staffing data indicate that in the fall of 2025, approximately 20 employees were not deployable. Of these, 10 employees were on leave due to injury or workers’ compensation claims and 10 employees were assigned to the police academy for training. As a result, the number of officers available for field deployment was lower than authorized staffing levels, which placed additional strain on operational capacity. Investigations have gone without resolution due to staffing constraints. Interviews with key PAPD personnel revealed that budgeted staffing in the investigations division has led to an increase in cases going uninvestigated, compared to the period pre-pandemic. While quantitative data is limited, qualitative feedback indicates that cases are often left unresolved due to insufficient detective staffing. Due to the department’s minimum Patrol staff requirements, staff are often pulled from other functions such as investigations to ensure the safety of officers in the field and compliance with requirements. This gap in investigative capacity results in some cases involving misdemeanors and non-violent crimes are often left unresolved. Minimum staffing standards have not been re-evaluated in over two decades. The PAPD Policy Manual and the PAPOA Memorandum of Understanding outline minimum staffing requirements for the Patrol Division across three time blocks: • 0700–2400 hours: 1 Watch Commander, 1 Supervisor, and 6 Officers/Agents • 0001–0300 hours: 1 Watch Commander, 1 Supervisor, and 5 Officers/Agents • 0300–0700 hours: 1 Supervisor and 5 Officers/Agents PAPD consistently meets minimum staffing levels with only rare instances when the department falls below minimum staffing. PAPD did not experience any fully unstaffed shifts in FY 2023 or FY 2024. Our review of staffing data confirmed only minor gaps totaling 266 open hours in FY 2023 and 218 open hours in FY 2024, representing just 0.40% and 0.33% of total shift hours, respectively. This indicates that PAPD has been effective in maintaining minimum staffing coverage, with only minimal disruptions. Exhibit 2: Percentage of Open or Understaffed Shifts PAPD Openings FY 2023 FY 2024 *OCA analysis September 2025 Despite consistent coverage, staff were unable to confirm when the last formal study was conducted to determine appropriate minimum staffing levels. Current standards, which are also a component of the collective bargaining agreement with the police officers’ associations, have remained unchanged for at least 20 years, raising concerns PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT 21 https://icma.org/sites/default/files/305747_Analysis%20of%20Police%20Department%20Staffing%20_%20McCabe.pdf Police staffing models typically fall into five categories: 1. Crime Trends 2. Per-Capita Ratios (e.g., officers per 1,000 residents) 3. Authorized/Budgeted Levels 4. Minimum Manning Levels 5. Workload-Based Models (e.g., calls for service, response times, discretionary time) According to the ICMA Center for Public Safety Management, departments should use data-driven benchmarks to evaluate staffing needs. These include: • Number of officers assigned to patrol • Workload levels of patrol officers • Time spent handling calls for service 21 While the City tracks this data, it has not conducted a formal analysis to assess whether current staffing levels are adequate. PAPD has not met response time goals but response times also have not worsened despite being understaffed. The OCA reviewed PAPD’s performance metrics as outlined in the City’s annual budget documents. PAPD tracks response times to emergency and urgent calls for service, with a goal of responding to: • Emergency calls within 6 minutes, 90% of the time • Urgent calls within 10 minutes, 90% of the time. Emergency and urgent calls require the most timely police response because they are generally life-threatening or represent higher danger crimes in progress. While PAPD has not met the 90% budgeted goal during the years reviewed of FY 2015 - FY2024 as shown in the Exhibit below, response times have trended somewhat positive despite staffing being reduced. Factors that influence response times include, but are not limited to, time of day, number of officers available to take a call or staffing levels, location of officers relative to the service call, existing demand for services, and the ability of officers to get through traffic - which can be impacted by commute time and weather, among other factors. PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT Exhibit 4: PAPD Performance Compared to KPI Goal *OCA analysis February 2025 Recommend the City: 1. Over-Hiring for Long-Term Leave Positions and/or Improve Workforce Availability Management To strengthen PAPD’s hiring pipeline and ensure operational efficiency, we recommend that the City consider over-hiring for roles where staff are on long- term disability leave or workers’ compensation. This approach would help maintain adequate staffing levels and reduce reliance on OT to cover long-term absences. Additionally, increasing the number of new hires could help alleviate ongoing staffing shortages. However, given the City’s current and projected budget deficits, Police, with support from the City’s Human Resources and Administrative Services Departments, should evaluate policies and practices related to long-term leave, light-duty assignments, and training scheduling to identify opportunities to improve workforce availability. Proactively managing these factors could help minimize staffing gaps and reduce operational strain without increasing staffing levels. 2. Expand Recruitment and Retention Efforts Increasing the number of Public Safety new hires can help address persistent staffing shortages and support long-term workforce sustainability. Enhanced recruitment strategies may include targeted outreach, accelerated onboarding, and partnerships with local academies. The City can also consider further investment in retention incentives such as career development programs, wellness initiatives, and competitive compensation packages. 3. Conduct Staffing Analysis PAPD should conduct a comprehensive staffing analysis to assess whether current staffing levels are sufficient to meet operational demands and service 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Percent of emergency calls responded to within 6 minutes Percent of urgent calls responded to within 10 minutes KPI Goal PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT operational priorities. This analysis should incorporate factors such as calls for service, officer workload, response time goals, crime trends and the number of deployable personnel. The results will help the department evaluate whether existing staffing levels and deployment strategies remain appropriate and to inform future staffing, hiring, and budgeting decisions. Leveraging existing data tracked by the City (e.g., number of patrol officers, call volumes, response times, and time spent per call) can aid in staffing assessments. PAPD should review current staffing deployment across units to ensure personnel resources are aligned with operational priorities. This review should consider whether staffing assigned to specialized units, administrative roles, or other assignments could be adjusted to better support patrol and investigative functions when staffing shortages occur. 4. Reassess Minimum Staffing Standards PAPD should initiate a formal review of minimum staffing standards, which have remained unchanged for over two decades. This study should incorporate workload-based analysis, crime trends, and officer availability to determine whether current minimums are appropriate and sustainable. Management Response Responsible Department(s): Concurrence: Partial Agreement Target Date: Varies Action Plan: 1. Partially agree. Although City Council has previously authorized over-hire positions, this approach was deprioritized due to persistent recruitment challenges and budget constraints. PAPD will reassess the feasibility of over- hire positions if recruitment conditions improve sufficiently as part of future staffing strategies, as feasible. 2. Agree. PAPD has taken a number of steps to expand recruiting, including assigning dedicated recruitment staff, updating recruiting materials on the City website, hosting local testing events at PAPD facilities, while also maintaining high hiring standards. PAPD has worked with the Palo Alto Police Foundation to implement several initiatives aimed at communicating to prospective and current employees that they are valued. The Department will continue to prioritize recruitment and retention efforts build a more consistent pipeline. 3. & 4. Partially agree. Completion of such analysis will take time and resources from PAPD, Human Resources and Administrative Services that are not currently allocated – staff will assess the scope and resource requirements to inform resource restraints and feasibility. An updated staffing analysis and assessment of minimum staffing standards should be based on a clearly defined expected level of service. Any proposed changes to service delivery should include structured public engagement. Unlike many peer agencies, PAPD continues to respond to a broad range of calls, including alarms, non-injury traffic collisions, and quality-of-life issues. These service commitments have staffing implications that may not be fully PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT 22 https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/Administrative-Services/City-Budget/Archived-Budget-Documents Police relies heavily on OT to maintain minimum staffing levels Due to staffing shortages and vacancy levels, Police relies heavily on overtime to maintain patrol minimum staffing levels. Overtime expenditures have exceeded the budget for several years and more recently actual expenditures have been more than twice of what was budgeted. Overtime expenditures are primarily used to backfill vacancies. Vacancies are driving most of overtime use. The City’s Office of Management & Budget (OMB) produces a Quarterly OT Report that shows budgeted vs. actual OT expense incurred by public safety departments. This report also tracks the department’s number of vacancy days or the cumulative number of days positions are vacant each year. A trend analysis of the Quarterly OT Reports from FY2015 – FY 2024 shows a peak in the number of vacancy days in FY2019 and a significant dip in FY2021. Vacancy days steadily began climbing again over the next several years. These vacancies have created staffing gaps in patrol staffing, leading to a growing reliance on OT to maintain service levels. Based on the City’s budget documents 22 and as shown in the graph below, as the number of vacancy days increases, so does the use of OT. We also see the opposite, that when vacancy days decrease, so does the use of OT suggesting these metrics are related. As noted in the Best Practices section of this report, DOJ guidance is for police departments to evaluate whether sustained OT usage indicates the need to adjust staffing levels. Exhibit 5: Police Vacancy Days vs. OT Expenses *OCA analysis September 2025 In addition, while PAPD’s OT expenses have exceeded the budget since 2015, in recent years actual expenses have far exceeded the budget as shown in the Exhibit 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 $- $500,000.00 $1,000,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $2,000,000.00 $2,500,000.00 $3,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 $4,000,000.00 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 Nu m b e r o f V a c a n c y D a y s Ov e r t i m e E x p e n s e s Axis Title Overtime Expenses Vacancy Days PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT Exhibit 6: Police OT Budgeted vs. Actual Expenditures *OCA analysis September 2025 The correlation between rising vacancies and increased OT expenditures suggests the department is compensating for reduced headcount by extending the workload of existing staff. For example, in the chart above you can see that OT expenses reduced by $1,135,871 from FY2020 to FY2021 which coincides with the Police Department’s significant drop in vacancy days in FY2021.This approach, while necessary in the short term, may not be sustainable and could contribute to employee fatigue, reduced morale, and operational inefficiencies. The following sections take a closer look at staffing challenges. Overtime use in 2024 was largely driven by meeting minimum staffing levels. The Police Department uses informal reporting of monthly OT at the employee/position level by way of matching hours worked from the enterprise accounting system to published pay rates on the city website. Using this reporting method, our analysis shows that in CY2024, 81% of Police Patrol OT costs were attributed to the “minimums/back-fill/early-in/hold-over” category. This indicates that maintaining minimum staffing for Patrol was a primary driver of OT for PAPD. Police management stated that meeting minimum staffing requirements remains a significant portion of OT use as of the writing of this report. $- $500,000.00 $1,000,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $2,000,000.00 $2,500,000.00 $3,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 $4,000,000.00 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Budgeted Overtime Expense Actual Overtime Expense PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT 23 palo-alto-employee-survey-report-2024.pdf Exhibit 7: PAPD Patrol – Largest Categories of OT Use in CY2024 *OCA analysis September 2025 OT concentration suggests potential workload imbalances and burnout. Police policy, collective bargaining agreements, and the Fair Labor Standards Act limit the amount of consecutive hours certain employees can work to 16 hours. Then, the employee must take an 8-hour break before beginning another shift or working OT. Analysis of sworn employee overtime use based on the FY2024 Police internal OT Report shows that 69 out of 93 sworn employees (74%) logged OT hours. The highest individual OT recorded was 1,019 hours. Notably, the top 10 sworn employees working OT accounted for over 35% of the department’s total sworn OT hours. This concentration of OT among a small group of employees suggests potential workload imbalances and may be indicative of broader staffing challenges. While OT is often seen as a way to increase salaries, especially in an area of the country where living expenses are high, employees at all levels of the PAPD stated that some employees are working more OT than desired. Police management stated they have only mandated sworn OT a handful of times in the past several years. Sustained high OT levels can contribute to employee fatigue, reduced morale, and increased risk of burnout. While not necessarily attributable to OT, in the most recent City of Palo Alto Employee Survey, 202423 employees in the Police and Fire departments were “less likely than their counterparts to have positive ratings for overall staff morale in the work group” with only 54% of Police and 57% of Fire employees rating overall staff morale as “excellent” or “good”. PAPD and PAFD employees were also less likely than employees 6% 81% 1%12% PAPD Patrol Largest Categories of Overtime in 2024 Patrol FSD - Follow-up/Case work/Court or Court prep/Warrant Service/Evidence Processing/Etc Patrol FSD - Patrol incl minimums/back-fill/early-in/hold-over Patrol FTO - Trainee Patrol FTO- Training Officer PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT OT is not assessed as part of reviewing Workers’ Compensation cases, police vehicle crashes, or use-of-force incidents. OCA was unable to obtain employee files to evaluate contributing factors in police workers’ compensation cases and vehicle accidents. Based on our review of the Independent Police Auditors Reports, it does not appear that OT is formally considered as a factor in use-of-force incidents either. It appears that workers’ compensation cases have been trending upwards since 2020. Such cases often mean that staff are out on leave requiring other staff to fill in to meet minimum staffing requirements. It is unclear if increased OT is contributing to workers’ compensation claims. For example, management observed that since the pandemic they have seen an increase in workers’ compensation cases for mental health issues compared to other medical conditions. Alternatively, increased OT may merely be a result of more individuals being on workers’ compensation leave requiring remaining staff to cover their shifts. Determining whether excessive OT is contributing to an increase in workers’ compensation cases may not be possible given the complexity and numerous variables in such cases. However, considering OT as a factor when reviewing workers’ compensation cases may help the City determine if there is a relationship and if it something they will need to better manage in the future. While staff reported that it is less expensive to fill hours with OT than the cost of budgeting an additional FTE given the benefits and pension costs of adding an FTE, there may be other less easily measured costs associated with increasing OT. As noted in the background section of this report, some studies have found increasing OT can lead to overly fatiguing officers which can increase the risks of vehicle crashes or use of force incidents occurring. These added risks may outweigh the cost of adding more FTEs. Exhibit 8: Workers’ Compensation Cases from FY2015 – FY2024 *OCA analysis September 2025 OCA also analyzed vehicle crashes and use of force Incidents from FY2020 through FY2024. It is unclear if there is a relationship between increased OT and increased 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 Police Workers' Compensation Cases PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT 24 https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/Police/Accountability/Independent-Police-Auditor 25 https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doi/press-releases/2023/May/21OIGNYPD.OT.Rpt.Release.05.03.2023.pdf 26 https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/auditor/new-web-docs/2017/kcao-overtime-2017/kcao-overtime-2017.ashx?la=en areas of concern when considering the balance of FTEs and OT use. Exhibit 9: Police Vehicle Crashes and Use-of-Force Incidents CY2020 – CY2024 *OCA analysis October 2025 The City has an Independent Police Auditor (IPA)24 which reviews all use of force cases including those involving specific weapons or injuries. While most incidents are found to be within policy, the IPA has identified areas for improvement in documentation, communication, and tactical decision-making. Based on OCA’s review of the IPA’s report, it does not appear that IPA analyzes whether officers involved in use-of-force incidents were working OT and it does not appear this analysis is performed by the City. Analyzing potential links between officer OT and use of force could provide an opportunity for deeper data-driven oversight. OCA’s review of recent OT audits conducted by other larger cities found that extended work hours and fatigue impair officer alertness and decision-making. In a report of the New York City Police Department Inspector General 25 they found that for an officer who works the average amount of OT—four hours and twelve minutes consecutively—the odds that they will be the subject of a substantiated NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board complaint the next day increased by 36.8%, the odds they will be named in a lawsuit for an incident occurring the next day increased by 36.5%, the odds that they will be involved in an incident the next day resulting in a Threat, Resistance, or Injury Interaction Report increase by 20.5%, and the odds that they would suffer a workplace injury the next day increased by 18.8%. The King County Auditor 26 found that every additional OT hour raised the likelihood of force by 2.7 percent. It also found that workers’ compensation claims are significantly correlated with OT. If an individual worked one additional hour of OT in the prior week, the odds of a workers’ 8 8 6 8 5 10 11 5 4 11 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 CY2020 CY2021 CY2022 CY2023 CY2024 Vehicle Crashes Use of Force Incidents PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT these findings suggest that OT can contribute to fatigue, which in turn raises the risk of officer errors, use-of-force incidents, and an increase in workers compensation claims. Per discussions with Police staff, the department maintains a relatively low number of use-of-force incidents annually (around eight) and uses software to track instances of recommend the City: The City should evaluate PAPD’s budget to ensure it more accurately reflects operational staffing needs. OT expenditures have exceeded the budget in recent years, largely due to staffing shortages and the need to maintain minimum staffing levels. Establishing a more realistic OT budget based on historical trends and operational requirements would improve financial planning and provide greater transparency regarding the resources required to sustain current service levels. 2. Evaluate staffing versus OT balance PAPD, in coordination with the City’s budget and human resources offices, should periodically evaluate the balance between authorized staffing levels and OT usage. This analysis should consider factors such as vacancy rates, non- deployable personnel, workload demands, and response time goals. A comprehensive review would help determine whether current staffing levels are sufficient or whether adjustments to hiring levels, staffing allocations, or OT practices are needed to support sustainable operations. 3. Explore civilianization opportunities PAPD should assess whether certain administrative, technical, or support functions currently performed by sworn personnel could be reassigned to civilian staff where appropriate. Expanding the use of civilian positions, such as community service officers or other support roles, may help reduce the workload on sworn officers and allow them to focus on core law enforcement duties. Civilianization may also provide a more cost-effective staffing model in some cases and reduce reliance on OT to meet operational needs. Management Response Responsible Department(s): Concurrence: Partially Agree Target Date: FY 2028 Budget Action Plan: 1. Agree. The overtime budget has not kept pace with operating demands and the variance however, the gap between budgeted and actual overtime is not a failure of cost control. PAPD will work with the Office of Management and Budget to develop a historically informed overtime budget baseline while continuing the current practice of using vacancy savings as an offset. It is worth noting that the City's existing practice of reallocating vacancy savings to offset OT expenditure effectively acknowledges this structural relationship and PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT 2. Agree. Regularly evaluating the balance between authorized staffing and overtime usage is a sound management practice. Overtime has become a routinized staffing tool, creating financial and workforce sustainability risks. PAPD will seek to establish a regular review process using existing data to help inform budget development and staffing allocations – likely this work would align with the Finding 1 staffing assessment and would align with time and resources for that. In the meantime, the department will use existing records to conduct baseline assessments. 3. Partially Agree. The Police Department will review current sworn assignments to identify functions where civilian classifications may be feasible, cost-effective, and operationally appropriate. This is routinely part of the budget development over decades and part of the management of workload and costs. Any reclassification must account for operational requirements and existing labor agreements, with Human Resources and labor relations staff engaged early in the process. Finding 3: Police does not fully use workforce data to monitor staff sustainability and risk The Police Department does not consistently collect or analyze workforce data needed to evaluate staffing sustainability, recruitment effectiveness, and potential operational risks associated with overtime. Police academy success rates are not currently tracked. Upon review of success rates for the Police and Fire academy the OCA found that rates are not tracked for the police academy. The City does not run its own police academy but rather recruits attend academies in neighboring cities and counties. Management said they could obtain records if needed but do not formally track how many recruits are successful and graduate from the academy each year or how many graduates make it through the field training program and subsequent probation period to become non- probationary sworn officers. Tracking and analyzing police academy performance metrics—such as recruitment levels, completion rates, attrition rates, and reasons for separation—could benefit the department in several ways. First, this data could help inform recruitment and selection practices by identifying factors that contribute to recruit attrition or unsuccessful completion of the academy or probationary period. Second, analyzing outcomes across different academy cohorts, training programs, or probationary supervision practices may help the department identify approaches that are more effective in preparing and retaining recruits. Finally, understanding typical completion and retention rates would allow the department to more accurately plan hiring targets and budget for anticipated staffing levels. For example, if historical data show that only a certain percentage of recruits successfully complete the academy and probationary period, the department could adjust recruitment levels accordingly to ensure that desired staffing levels are achieved. Management noted that one of the more recent cohorts hired had a higher than anticipated attrition rate. As a result, a full analysis of the cohort is being conducted and the results will be used in future recruitments. PAPD should continue to work to improve the collection, analysis and use of workforce-related data to guide staffing, scheduling and risk management decisions in order to more proactively manage resources. PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT Effects of OT not considered in safety-related incidents. As noted in Finding 2, overtime is not currently analyzed as a contributing factor in safety-related incidents. Management indicated that there is no formal review process to evaluate whether OT hours may be associated with employee injuries, mental health concerns, or other workers’ compensation claims. Similarly, OT is not considered when reviewing officer-involved vehicle crashes or use-of-force incidents. Given the sometimes substantial amount of OT worked by employees, analyzing whether extended work hours may affect officers’ performance, decision-making, or overall well- being could provide valuable insight for protecting officer health and promoting public safety. recommend the City: 1. Formally track Police Academy Field Training Program and probationary period outcomes PAPD should implement a formal process to track and monitor police academy outcomes, including recruitment levels, completion rates, probationary success rates, and reasons for separation. Regular analysis of these metrics would help the department evaluate the effectiveness of its recruitment and training processes, identify factors contributing to recruit attrition, and make data- informed adjustments to hiring strategies and training practices. 2. Analyze OT in safety incidents PAPD should incorporate OT hours into its review of safety-related incidents, including worker’s compensation claims, vehicle crashes, and use-of-force incidents. Evaluating whether extended work hours may be associated with these events could help the department better understand potential fatigue- related risks and inform policies or scheduling practices designed to protect officer health and public safety. Response Responsible Department(s): Concurrence: Partially Agree Target Date: Q1 CY 2027 Action Plan: 1. Agree. PAPD agrees with the recommendation to implement formal tracking of academy and probationary outcomes and has already prompted a review of the recent cohort that reinforced the value of consistent data collection in identifying trends and refining hiring projections. PAPD will establish a formal tracking process to capture key metrics. HR can provide a report including Police Trainee date of hire, promotion date to Police Officer (upon Academy graduation) probationary end date and separation date and reason. This data will be reviewed regularly to inform recruitment trends and strategy, hiring targets, and budget planning. 2. Partially Agree. Permissible officer work hours are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act and applicable labor agreements. PAPD adheres to these standards. With that, PAPD acknowledges that extended work hours can result in fatigue, which may impact officer performance. PAPD staff are unaware of PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT fatigue, and it will nonetheless formally incorporate an assessment of fatigue into its administrative investigations and tracked in the supervisor injury report with goal to prevent injuries. PAPD leadership is committed to balancing the regional shortage of qualified officer candidates against the sustained operational expectations of our community — while remaining one of the most transparent departments in the region. Finding 4: Inconsistent and manual overtime tracking may cause the City to make staffing decisions based on inaccurate data. The City’s internal processes for tracking and reporting OT are inconsistent and largely manual, which may result in inaccurate data being used to inform staffing and budgetary decisions. Police management and administrative teams meet monthly to review OT usage and identify trends. However, the Police’s monthly OT reporting process relies heavily on manual data entry, with values hardcoded into spreadsheets and not linked to formulas. Descriptions of OT hours worked are not consistently documented, and categorization is performed manually by staff. This lack of automation and standardization increases the risk of data entry errors and incomplete reporting, potentially undermining the accuracy of OT analysis. During testing of Police OT data, OCA found that two systems are used for time tracking: SAP, the primary City-wide timekeeping system, which records total hours worked but not specific hours of the day; and PlanIt, which tracks the exact hours officers work. OCA found instances where total shift hours exceeded the allowable 16- hour limit. Management explained that these exceptions sometimes occurred in connection with high-profile incidents and are permitted with authorization. However, in some cases, management was unable to provide details regarding why hours were coded in a particular manner without first consulting the officer involved. Discrepancies exist between some internal reports. The Quarterly Public Safety OT Analysis, produced by OMB, reports OT costs for both Police and Fire. However, our review found that the figures in this report do not reconcile with the Police informal monthly analysis. This discrepancy exists in part because the Police monthly report is built through a highly manual process, pulling timecard data from SAP, merging it with hourly pay information, and manually categorizing OT usage, which means pieces of information can be missed on the back end due to disconnected systems. The Police Budget Analyst expressed concerns about the accuracy of the monthly internal report. Additionally, the quarterly report does not include OT hours or specific drivers of overtime (e.g., minimum staffing requirements, vacancy coverage) beyond backfilling open shifts. Staff indicated that including OT hours worked and the underlying drivers of OT would improve the report's usefulness and transparency and would reduce the burden of re-explaining the same budget dynamics each reporting cycle. OCA noted in its review of Fire’s OT tracking system, Telestaff, that it was designed for all public safety departments including police and dispatch. The City may be able to PALO ALTO POLICE DEPARTMENT Previous audit findings remain unaddressed. An audit was conducted by the OCA in 2017, entitled Continuous Monitoring Audit: OT, which recommended implementing automated tracking through the planned procurement of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to improve resource allocation and utilization. The audit identified issues such as limited data capture in SAP, non-standardized notes, and inconsistent departmental tracking methods, many of which still persist today. Because SAP does not capture work start and end times, the specific reasons for OT in meaningful categories, and because employee timecard notes are not standardized, analysts cannot systematically extract or analyze the root causes of OT. This forces departments to maintain separate manual workarounds, such as the PAPD Budget Analyst's Microsoft Access-based process, which are highly dependent on individual employees and more prone to errors or omissions when staff turns over. These same underlying data limitations may also contribute to the reconciliation gap between the monthly and quarterly reports noted above. We Recommend the City: 1. Revisit and assess audit recommendations According to the 2017 OT Audit, it was recommended that the City explore the potential of developing a continuous monitoring process to provide more detailed information on OT usage so that management can better manage and control OT costs. A continuous monitoring system could include data analytics to extract data on service demands, absences and vacancies, and elements of city policies and contractual requirement that could be useful in identifying opportunities to reduce OT costs. The City should consider the benefits of automating data collection and having drill- down reporting capabilities for more accurate data capture and reporting. 2. Enhance internal data collection, system integration and reporting of OT The City should explore the current contract and Telestaff services in use by the Fire Department for expanded use with the Police Department. In the interim, Police should ensure alignment across reports and regularly validate data to support better staffing and budget decisions. Reconciling internal reports will ensure consistency across reporting periods and improve confidence in the data used. Additionally, the OMB should consider revising the Quarterly Public Safety OT Analysis to include not only OT costs but also OT hours and drivers of OT. This will provide a more complete picture of OT usage and support better decision-making. Response Responsible Department(s): Technology Concurrence: Agree Target Date: FY 2028 Action Plan: 1. & 2. Police will consult with Fire Department staff regarding it’s success with their scheduling platform with the goal of reducing manual entry, improve system integration, and improve reliability of information. The Department will also consult with the SAP functional team and Administrative Services to see if enhancements can be achieved in the system to include moving information between systems rather than manually. The City’s Enterprise Resource Planning system is undergoing an upgrade and as part of the Phase 2, which is estimated to begin in FY 2028, this will be added to consider if any new functionality is cost effective and efficient to support this effort. PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT Palo Alto Fire Department Finding 5: Fire has made progress in restoring deployed resources but hiring process constraints result in continued overuse of OT to fill operational gaps. Deployed Resources and Minimum Staffing Backfill The Palo Alto Fire Department has experienced chronic minimum staffing backfill shortages. From FY2015 to FY2025 the Department held an average of 9.6 FTE positions vacant, with some years as high as 14 FTE. Fire personnel indicated that the department has rarely operated at full staffing levels in recent years. In addition to these vacant FTEs, a significant number of staff are consistently out due to injury or disability leave, reducing the number of deployable firefighters. In the last year, the City has made significant investments in increasing deployed resources. Over the last one to two years, the department has made significant efforts to increase deployed resources and restore services to all six fire stations. In FY2025, 3.0 FTE were added to restore Fire Engine 62 from a two-person squad. In FY2026, 3.0 FTE Fire Captains were added to cross-staff Medic 64 with Fire Engine 64. In FY2026, 7.0 FTE were added to create a new Single Role Ambulance response division, by adding a 12-HR Peak Ambulance to the deployed resources. Although deployed resources resemble similar pre-pandemic levels, service demands have increased. In CY2025 the Department responded to over 10,000 calls for service for the first time in its history. This is part of why the Department still struggles to meet key performance measures, particularly with response times, despite adding resources over the last two years. Management and staff both reported that the department has focused efforts on recruitment and retention. One recruitment and hiring challenge Fire experiences, similar to Police, is the significant time it takes from hire to deployment. According to management, firefighters have some of the longest hiring-to-full-productivity timelines in the public sector Once hired, a recruit goes through a lengthy, but necessary training academy. Upon completion of the academy, the recruit is assigned to a unit while still under a probationary period. This entire process takes between 18 to 24 months. In addition, there are instances where the new recruits do not successfully complete training or probation. OCA’s analysis of Fire records of academy recruitment groups from 2020 to 2025 showed that on average, 7.8 individuals were recruited per group. Of these individuals, the average separation during the academy was 1.2 or 15% with another 1.2 or 15% separating during probation. The average retention rate for these 5 years was 64%. While one recruitment class had no separations, another had 5 of the 11 recruits separate during the academy and probation period. When this happens, the department is forced to begin the process again to fill these now vacant positions. Tracking academy performance has provided the department with valuable information and helped in approaching staffing challenges. According to management, an effort was made in FY2023 to establish hire-ahead Firefighter Trainee positions to support long-term staffing stability; however, implementation was not realized due to internal concerns and administrative complexity. Key challenges included uncertainty around managing potential short-term staffing surpluses, as well as labor considerations related to establishing a lower initial PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT vacancy-driven overtime pressures have continued under the current staffing model. Those positions have recently been included in budget reduction strategies. Currently, Fire management has been able to gain internal approval to use city-wide “over-strength” positions to hire ahead. However, the Department has still struggled to achieve full staffing. As a general rule, the City does not encourage over-strength hiring and departments need to get special approval before proceeding. Exhibit 10, below, shows Fire operational deployment positions from FY2015 to FY2019, showing that Fire has been understaffed for much of the past 7 years. Exhibit 10: Number of Operational Deployment Positions for Fire FY2015 through FY2024 *OCA analysis October 2025 In October 2023, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) municipal service review found that Fire deployed resources are below the county average relative to peer jurisdictions. LAFCO also reported that Fire was not consistently meeting its eight- minute response-time standard and identified the need for additional resources. Despite comparatively strong staffing ratios, response performance has been constrained by deployment configuration and a high volume of medical calls. In response, the FY 2025 Adopted Budget includes funding to up-staff Fire Station 2’s Engine 62 to a full three- person crew and implement deployment adjustments, including a new Station 4 apparatus plan. Overall, the LAFCO review confirms that while Palo Alto’s public safety services are regarded as high quality and deployed resource levels are generally competitive, fire operations have faced challenges in achieving performance targets under existing 96 95 95 95 84 84 84 78 83 83 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT 27 https://www.iaff.org/wp-content/uploads/English_Version_-_NFPA_1710_standards_DFSR_Summary_2022_new.pdf OCA also noted that while Fire does not have required minimum staffing levels, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 1710 provides widely accepted benchmarks for fire and emergency medical services staffing. Specifically: • Engine companies should be staffed with four firefighters. • Advanced Life Support (ALS) units should include two paramedics and two EMTs, all arriving on scene within the prescribed travel time standards.27 Currently, Palo Alto falls short of the recommended crew size as they staff three firefighters per engine. Fire management stated that NFPA’s standard is a recommendation that provides enough people to immediately begin the step towards fighting a fire. Fire sends two units to every call in order to meet the number of required people at the scene to complete those steps. This follows CalOSHA Title 8 standards requiring staffing be sufficient to perform fire response safely. Fire has a written procedure to ensure firefighter safety and effective fire operations. This has been a sufficient practice given Palo Alto’s size and resource mix. However, when engines leave the City to provide mutual aid or respond to State or Federal emergency response calls, they do send four firefighters per engine. The City’s recent Fire investments, staffing augmentations, and strategic deployment adjustments are intended to address these gaps and improve alignment between resource levels and service demand. Current “floating” positions may not provide adequate coverage The Fire Department operates nine units to provide service coverage to the City 24 hours per day, seven days per week. This coverage is broken into three shifts per day. According to management, 25 positions are required to staff each shift and with three shifts each day, the City requires 75 positions. Currently, Fire has 86 budgeted positions for these shifts leaving 11 “floaters” to cover for sick leave, vacation, training, etc. Floater positions are a standard staffing practice in fire service operations, consisting of personnel who are not assigned to a specific apparatus or shift but are deployed to fill daily staffing gaps caused by vacancies, leave usage, training, and other absences, reducing the need for overtime backfill. According to Fire management, maintaining an adequate number of floaters allows Fire to preserve minimum staffing levels, limit fatigue associated with excessive overtime, and support consistent emergency response performance. However, as of the writing of this report, the City currently only has two functional floaters due to having thee employees on “light duty” (meaning they are assigned to less strenuous tasks) and six employees on workers compensation leave. The department’s policy allows for up to four employees per shift to take vacation and employees can take other types of leave (sick, bereavement, parental, etc.) as needed. With a lack of adequate floaters to cover for these various absences, the department is forced to use more overtime. PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT While Fire was meeting some KPIs, deployed resource levels may have impacted other response times and violation follow-up. According to the City’s annual budget documents, Fire has established Key Performance Measures (KPMs) for emergency response: • Fire and EMS response within 8 minutes, 90% of the time. • Advanced Life Support Ambulance (ALS) response within 12 minutes, 90% of the time. Fire met its goals for EMS and ALS response times in most years from FY 2019 - FY 2024. However, the department consistently fell short of its goal for fire emergency responses within 8 minutes during the same period as shown below. Exhibit 11: Fire Performance Compared to KPI Goals FY2015 – FY2024 *OCA analysis October 2025 Beginning in FY 2026, the department plans to revise its KPMs to reflect: • Emergency response within 8 minutes, and • Ambulance arrival within 12 minutes, 90% of the time. Violations have gone without resolution due to deployed resource and financial constraints. Discussions with the Fire Marshal revealed that the department has faced challenges in conducting timely follow-up after issuing fire code violations. These delays are attributed to staffing constraints and may impact enforcement effectiveness and public safety. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Percent of responses to EMS calls within 8 minutes Percent of responses to fire emergencies within 8 minutesPercent of responses to paramedic calls within 12 minutesKPI Goal for EMS Calls & Fire Emergencies PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT Most OT is used to meet minimum staffing requirements. Fire relies on overtime to meet minimum staffing requirements when they have experienced vacant FTEs. Management and union representatives reported that most OT is driven by backfilling vacancies, sick leave, vacation, workers’ compensation, training, and seasonal staffing needs. As shown in the graph below the number of vacancy days and the amount of OT expenses seems to generally trend together. Years with the highest number of vacancy days also have the highest OT expenditures. As mentioned in the Police section of this report, compensating for reduced headcount by extending workload of existing staff may be necessary in the short term but is not a sustainable model and can contribute to employee fatigue, reduced morale and operational inefficiencies. Guidance from the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs identifies heavy reliance on overtime as a structural driver of firefighter fatigue that directly impacts EMS patient outcomes. Extended shifts and insufficient recovery time degrade cognitive performance, increase medical error rates, and reduce effectiveness in critical interventions such as CPR and airway management. In time-sensitive emergencies—including cardiac arrest, stroke, and respiratory failure—this fatigue-driven decline in performance can delay care, reduce survival rates, and increase the likelihood of adverse patient outcomes. Exhibit 12: Fire Vacancy Days vs. Overtime Expenses *OCA analysis October 2025 Fire has routinely spent significantly more on OT than it has budgeted with actual OT expenses exceeding budgeted by more than 100% in some years. The budget has remained relatively flat during a 10-year period, assuming the Department will be fully staffed. As discussed in the section on PAFD staffing, the department has made significant efforts to keep up with turnover and is currently nearly fully staffed after hiring for a Spring Academy. 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 $- $500,000.00 $1,000,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $2,000,000.00 $2,500,000.00 $3,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 $4,000,000.00 $4,500,000.00 $5,000,000.00 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 Nu m b e r o f V a c a n c y D a y s Ov e r t i m e E x p e n s e s Axis Title OvertimeExpenses Vacancy Days PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT Exhibit 13: Fire OT Budgeted vs. Actual Expenditures *OCA analysis October 2025 OT and Workers’ Compensation Cases In comparing Exhibit 13 of OT Expenditures with Exhibit 14, Fire Workers’ Compensation Cases, there appears to be similar trends with workers’ compensation cases seeming to rise when there is greater use of OT. Determining whether the amount of OT worked is a factor in workers’ compensation cases is important for the City to understand the full cost of using OT as a means for supporting systemic staffing issues. Exhibit 14 : Fire Workers’ Compensation Cases *OCA analysis October 2025 $- $500,000.00 $1,000,000.00 $1,500,000.00 $2,000,000.00 $2,500,000.00 $3,000,000.00 $3,500,000.00 $4,000,000.00 $4,500,000.00 $5,000,000.00 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Budgeted Overtime Expense Actual Overtime Expense 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024 PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT Fire implemented structural changes to reduce forced or mandatory OT with positive feedback from staff. In order to maintain minimum staffing levels, PAFD has relied on “Force In” or mandatory OT. Analysis of OT data over the past 10 fiscal years provided from Telestaff software records in the PAFD shows that: • 62% of OT hours were voluntary • 34% were due to Force In/Mandatory OT • 4% were related to State Strike Team Deployment (reimbursed by OES) Exhibit 15: Fire Categories of OT FY2015 – FY2025 *OCA analysis October 2025 Mandatory OT is typically used when staffing levels are insufficient to cover shifts through voluntary means and firefighters are required to work OT shifts. The high proportion of “Force In/Mandatory OT” indicates persistent staffing challenges and can lead to staff dissatisfaction and burn-out. Fire implemented operational changes in 2023 to merge voluntary and mandatory OT lists. The department also adopted a system that prioritizes the last day worked for OT assignments. Staff feedback suggests these changes have improved fairness in shift distribution. The graph below shows that mandatory OT hours have decreased since FY 2022. 62% 34% 4% Regular Overtime Force In/Mandatory Overtime State Strike Team Deployment PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT Exhibit 16: Fire “Force In/Mandatory” OT Hours FY2015-FY2024 *OCA analysis October 2025 We Recommend the City: 1. Strengthen workforce planning and hiring pipeline management Fire should continue to strengthen its workforce planning efforts by maintaining a consistent hiring pipeline that accounts for the department’s lengthy training and onboarding process incorporating attrition, academy separation rates, retirements, and long-term leave into its hiring projections. Developing a more proactive hiring plan will help ensure staffing levels remain stable and reduce the need for overtime to cover vacancies. The Department should consider reestablishing a structured hire-ahead Firefighter Trainee program to create a continuous staffing pipeline aligned with anticipated vacancies, reducing reliance on overtime to maintain minimum staffing. By proactively filling positions and maintaining adequate staffing levels, the Department can improve service reliability, control overtime costs, and mitigate fatigue-related performance risks identified 2. Consider best ratio of floater positions Fire should reassess the current ratio of floater positions to total suppression staffing and adjust it based on historical leave usage, vacancy rates, and workload demands to ensure sufficient baseline coverage without overreliance on overtime. 3. Periodically evaluate staffing levels and deployment against service demand The City should formally assess whether current staffing levels, deployment strategies, and apparatus configurations remain aligned with service demand and response time goals. This evaluation should consider factors such as call volume trends, response performance, staffing availability, and community growth. Conducting periodic reviews will help the City determine whether current resource levels and deployment models are sufficient to meet operational and public safety objectives. 4. Improve OT monitoring and workforce sustainability Fire should continue monitoring OT usage and analyzing the factors driving OT - 10,000.00 20,000.00 30,000.00 40,000.00 50,000.00 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 PAFD "Force In/Mandatory" Overtime Hours FY 2015 -FY2025 PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT staffing needs. The department should also periodically evaluate whether extended OT hours are associated with employee fatigue, workers’ compensation claims, or other workforce health and safety indicators. Strengthening this analysis will help management identify opportunities to reduce reliance on mandatory OT while maintaining required staffing coverage. 5. Improve budget transparency and operational efficiency. The City should work with the Fire Department to ensure the budget more accurately reflects operational needs and historical spending trends. Aligning the OT budget with expected staffing realities will improve financial transparency and help both Fire and policymakers better understand the true cost of maintaining fire service levels. In addition, Fire should continue implementing operational improvements—such as inspection software and scheduling adjustments—to improve efficiency and ensure inspection and enforcement activities are completed in a timely manner. Response Fire, Human Resources, Administrative Services Concurrence: Agree Target Date: Q4, FY 2027 Action Plan: 1. Agree. The Department will continue refining workforce planning by incorporating known attrition factors, including retirements, academy and probationary separation rates, and long-term leave trends, into hiring projections and will share these projections annually to inform staffing and financial planning. Given the time required to recruit, train, and deploy firefighters, the Department will work with Human Resources and Administrative Services to review current hiring policies and explore process improvements that could support earlier recruitment while maintaining fiscal controls and oversight. These efforts are constrained by citywide hiring policies and balancing of fiscal impacts of over hiring practices. It should be noted that the Department recently worked to implement a structured hire-ahead Firefighter Trainee program which encountered identified operational, administrative, and labor-related complexities, including compensation structure and management of temporary over-strength conditions. In FY2027, the hire-ahead Firefighter Trainee position will be frozen and as such work on this will be paused while the City manages financial constraints and balances investment priorities. 2. Agree. The Department agrees that floater positions are a standard and effective strategy for managing daily staffing variability and reducing reliance on overtime and deploys. The Department will conduct a comprehensive analysis of leave usage, including sick leave, parental leave, workers’ compensation, vacation, and other extended absences. This will be used to analyze a recommended number of floater positions and bring forward resource adjustments as necessary or feasible as part of the FY 2028 budget process. 3. Agree. The Department agrees with the importance of aligning staffing levels and deployment models with service demands and community risks. Fire Department Command Staff continuously monitors system performance, including response times, unit availability, and call volume trends, and manages deployment within allocated resources. Performance metrics and operational outcomes are regularly PALO ALTO FIRE DEPARTMENT To further support this work, the Department is planning an update to the Standards of Cover report as part of the Department’s recent five-year strategic plan that concludes in CY 2030. A Standards of Cover is a data-driven planning document used to evaluate risk, response performance, deployment strategies, and resource allocation, including community hazards, historical call demand, response times, and current staffing and deployment configurations. 4. Agree. The Department agrees with the importance of monitoring overtime usage and evaluating workforce sustainability. The Fire Department currently tracks key overtime-related metrics, including overtime hours, expenditures, vacancy days, and workers’ compensation cases. These metrics are reported through the City’s Quarterly Public Safety Overtime Report and presented to the Finance Committee. The Department will build on these practices by establishing a more formal internal data review process in collaboration with Human Resources and Payroll to analyze workforce trends. This process will include enhanced tracking and integration of hours per employee, leave trends, workers’ compensation data, overtime usage, and vacancy patterns to better understand workforce impacts. Supervisors may also formally incorporate fatigue assessments into injury reports and monitor trends to support injury prevention. 5. Concurs. The Department agrees with the importance of aligning budget assumptions with operational realities and maintaining transparency in overtime reporting. In the FY2027 budget development, the Department worked with Administrative Services to adjust assumptions for a realistic vacancy rate and increase the base overtime budget to better reflect align the budgeted cost of maintaining minimum staffing and deployed resources. The Department will continue to evaluate opportunities to improve system integration and efficiency Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, are members of the global network of Baker Tilly International Ltd., the members of which are separate and independent legal entities. Baker Tilly US, LLP is a licensed CPA firm that provides assurance services to its clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities provide tax and consulting services to their clients and are not licensed CPA firms. City of Palo AltoOffice of the City Auditor (OCA) Policy & Services Committee Meeting Public Safety Staffing and Overtime Audit, Presenter: Kate Murdock, City Auditor, Baker Tilly May 12, 2026 2 Objective Determine if the Public Safety Departments (Fire and Police) are effectively and efficiently staffed including use of overtime. 3 Background Police and Fire OT costs consistently exceed budgeted amounts with ~ $7.5 paid in FY 2024 Significant reliance on OT driven by vacancies, leave recruitment, and retention challenges Police staffing remains below pre-pandemic levels Fire experienced pandemic-related service reductions Strong resident satisfaction with public safety services, alongside requests for increased staffing and resources Police-Related Findings 5 Finding 1: Police staffing levels and workforce availability may be insufficient to meet operational demands Finding Recommendation •Police Department has not returned to pre- pandemic staffing levels – 8 sworn officers short •20 officers not deployable in FY25 and FY26 •Investigations have gone without resolution due to staffing constraints •Minimum staffing standards – 2 decades old •Response times have slightly improved despite being understaffed Consider over-hiring for positions affected by long-term leave to maintain adequate deployable staffing levels and leverage normal attrition for balancing staffing levels if needed. Expand recruitment and retention efforts to address ongoing staffing shortages and strengthen the hiring pipeline. Conduct a comprehensive staffing analysis using data on workload, calls for service, response times, crime trends, and deployable personnel. Reassess minimum patrol staffing standards to ensure they reflect current service demands and operational needs. 6 Finding 2: Police relies heavily on OT to maintain minimum staffing levels Finding Recommendation •Vacancies are driving most of overtime use for sworn personnel •OT use in CY2024 largely driven by meeting minimum staffing levels •OT concentration suggests potential workload imbalances and burnout •OT is not formally assessed as part of Workers’ Compensation cases, police vehicle crashes, or use-of-force incidents Align OT budgets with operational needs. The City should reassess the PAPD’s OT budget to better reflect actual operational demands and historical spending trends, improving transparency and financial planning. Evaluate the balance between staffing levels and OT use. PAPD, in coordination with the City’s budget and human resources offices, should periodically analyze vacancy rates, workload demands, and service expectations to determine whether adjustments to staffing levels or OT practices are needed. Explore opportunities for civilianization. The department should evaluate whether certain administrative, technical, or support functions currently performed by sworn officers could be reassigned to civilian staff to reduce workload pressures and limit reliance on OT. 7 Finding 3: Police does not fully use workforce data to monitor staff sustainability and risk. Finding Recommendation •Police academy success rates are not currently tracked •Effects of OT are not currently considered in safety-related incidents Formally track police academy outcomes. PAPD should establish a process to monitor recruitment levels, academy completion rates, probationary success rates, and reasons for separation to better evaluate recruitment and training effectiveness and improve workforce planning. Analyze OT in safety incident reviews. PAPD should include OT hours as a factor when reviewing workers’ compensation claims, vehicle crashes, and use-of-force incidents to identify potential fatigue-related risks. 8 Finding 4: Inconsistent and manual OT tracking may cause Police to make staffing decisions based on inaccurate data. Finding Recommendation •Discrepancies between some internal time-tracking reports •Previous audit findings remain unaddressed Revisit and assess prior audit recommendations from the 2017 OT audit, including developing a continuous monitoring system to analyze service demand, absences, vacancies, and policy requirements, have not been fully implemented to support management of OT costs. Improve OT data collection, system integration, and reporting, as well as exploring extending use of Telestaff, the OT tracking and monitoring system in use by the Fire department, to Police. Fire-Related Findings 10 Finding 5: Fire has made steps to restoring deployed resources, but OT use remains a concern. Finding Recommendation •Significant investments in deployed resources this past year •Current “floating” positions may not provide adequate coverage •Some KPIs are being met but deployed resource levels may have impacted other response times and violation follow-up •Most OT is used to meet minimum staffing requirements •Fire implemented structural changes to reduce forced overtime with positive feedback Strengthen workforce planning and hiring pipeline management to account for attrition and long training timelines. Periodically evaluate staffing levels and deployment against service demand to ensure resources align with service demand. Improve OT monitoring and workforce sustainability to better manage fatigue and staffing risks. Improve budget transparency and operational efficiency by aligning budgets with historical trends and continuing process improvements. Questions? Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, operate under an alternative practice structure and are members of the global network of Baker Tilly International Ltd., the members of which are separate and independent legal entities. Baker Tilly US, LLP is a licensed CPA firm that provides assurance services to its clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities provide tax and consulting services to their clients and are not licensed CPA firms. The name Baker Tilly and its associated logo is used under license from Baker Tilly International limited. The information provided here is of a general nature and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. 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