San Jose police overtime hits $72M; response times still missing goal
San Jose Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee: Police audit shows Priority 1 response times averaging 8.1 minutes against a 6-minute goal and $72M in overtime last year.
San Jose
Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support Committee Meeting
April 16, 2026
TL;DR
- San Jose's police audit landed at the committee. Priority 1 response times averaged 8.1 minutes last year against a 6-minute goal, and overtime costs hit $72 million, up 53% in five years.
- The full council takes the audit up April 28.
- The fire department met the city's 8-minute response standard only 64% of the time in fiscal year 24-25. Calls are up 22% over five years even as the city's population has dropped about 5%.
- San Jose has about 0.75 firefighters per 1,000 residents. Other county fire agencies, excluding Morgan Hill, average 0.90 per 1,000.
- The city's 311 system still routes county and state issues by hand. IT wants to sell the platform to neighboring agencies to fix that and bring in revenue.