Across overtime pay for police officers, military deployment costs, planning operations from public unions, and government grants paid out to participating activist organizations, taxpayers saw their contributions go toward funding both sides of the recent anti-immigration enforcement civil unrest in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles city government, in particular, bore a heavy fiscal burden in response to the protests. Overtime pay for police officers has been a persistent problem for the city’s budget. A new report by the government watchdog group Open The Books found that the city spent a record $1.1 billion, including north of $265 million for police officers, on pay for extra hours from city employees — enough cash to cover the city’s entire budget deficit. Los Angeles Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said that overtime pay for officers to respond to the recent protests cost the city $11 million.
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In addition to the Los Angeles Police Department costs, taxpayers were also on the hook for 240 officers from neighboring areas, the 600 California Highway Patrol Officers deployed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the thousands of military personnel deployed by President Donald Trump, which the Pentagon estimates cost $134 million.
The security forces were deployed in response to violence, arson, and other property crimes carried out by demonstrators. Law enforcement arrested over 500 protesters over the course of the demonstrations, and roughly a dozen LAPD officers were injured. City officials also estimated that the protests caused $593,000 in damages to city buildings and left waste that will cost upwards of $600,000 to clean up.
Open The Books’ analysis of Los Angeles’s budget found that numerous police officers are pulling in large salaries buoyed by overtime pay, with the top 10 salaries ranging from $428,363 to $603,887. Staffing shortages currently plague many city departments.
“With more than one in six jobs vacant, highly paid employees are collecting record-breaking overtime as first responders and essential employees work to restore order,” Open The Books CEO John Hart told the Washington Examiner. “Responding to historic wildfires and now rioting is creating a vicious cycle of personnel costs, with the yearly overtime bill eclipsing the city’s entire projected budget shortfall. Los Angeles needs to find a way to cut through red tape, right-size its workforce, and rein in out-of-control compensation.”
In addition to funding the response to the riots, tax dollars also played a role in getting them off the ground.
The Service Employees International Union, a public-sector union whose operations are paid for by dues it collects from government employees, played a major role in organizing the demonstrations. SEIU officials coordinated and mobilized their activists in service of their protest, with law enforcement arresting California SEIU president David Huerta during the demonstrations.
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The Washington Examiner previously reported that the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, an organization at the center of the immigration protests, received millions in taxpayer dollars through government grants from California and the federal government.
The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.