CHP overtime costs for George Floyd police brutality protests estimated at $38.2 million
The California Highway Patrol spent more than $38.2 million in overtime costs associated with police brutality protests at the state Capitol and other areas in the state, according to new figures released Tuesday.
The California Department of Finance says at least $38.2 million was spent on CHP overtime in response to a series of protests statewide, adding to the growing cost of policing demonstrations that erupted statewide after the May 25 death of George Floyd who was killed by Minneapolis police.
The state already has said that deploying the California National Guard to cities around the state, including 500 to guard sites in Sacramento, cost $24.5 million.
In addition, the state spent about $1 million in overtime and meal costs during earlier protests in April and May over the stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom because of the coronavirus crisis, according to figures provided to The Sacramento Bee in response to a public records act request last month.
The Bee also has filed public records act requests for total figures on overtime, meals, helicopter usage and other items associated with the latest demonstrations from the CHP, Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, but those figures are not yet available.
Instead, state finance officials released figures Tuesday to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee saying CHP incurred 431,454 hours of unanticipated overtime for a total of $38,226,000 to handle protests statewide from May 28 through June 11.
The Capitol has been roiled by protests and marches since April, first by demonstrations against the governor’s stay-at-home order because of COVID-19, then by marches against police brutality that swept around downtown and onto Interstate 5, which was closed twice briefly.
CHP officials used riot batons to keep marchers from getting onto the Capital City Freeway in West Sacramento and deployed flash bang rounds to remove marchers from I-5 and to deter others from throwing objects off overpasses at officers.
Some protesters in downtown Sacramento were hit with tear gas fired by Sacramento police officers, and the chaos led to a weekend of looting in downtown and Midtown Sacramento by individuals who caused an estimated $10 million in damage.
The Capitol also has been the target of regular protests, but the CHP shut down access to large portions of the Capitol grounds because of a tense standoff with stay-at-home demonstrators.
Since then, the west, north and south sides of the Capitol grounds have been fenced off, leaving a smaller fenced-off portion near the east steps that has drawn a number of protests, including one more than a week ago when about 100 demonstrators leaped over the barriers and engaged in a standoff until CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley walked into the crowd and agreed to meet with a number of demonstrators to her their concerns.
Stanley emphasized during that standoff that the CHP has not used tear gas at the Capitol during the protests, and told marchers he and the rest of CHP members were angry about Floyd’s death when Minneapolis office placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, an event that has sparked worldwide condemnation.
“Everybody wants justice but ... I do want you to know is that, for myself and the 11,000 other employees of CHP, none of us agree with what happened to Mr. Floyd. That was not right. Totally unacceptable,” Stanley said over a loudspeaker.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 2:19 PM with the headline "CHP overtime costs for George Floyd police brutality protests estimated at $38.2 million."