There has been too much death on our streets. And it has to end for our city to move forward. Thanks to Commissioner Norris' leadership, residents who are willing to risk action, and the higher expectations people have for our city, we will make Baltimore the safest, greatest big city in America. As always, thank you for everything you are doing to make the greatest city in America even greater. Out With Overtime Managing the City's overtime costs is a constant focus of our weekly CitiStat meetings.
Overtime is no longer an entitlement.
A new mindset has emerged in which overtime is now viewed as a management tool to be used with restraint to achieve discrete objectives and accomplish well-defined goals. Nowhere is there better evidence of this new approach than in our Baltimore City Fire Department. During its last CitiStat session, the Department posted its seventh consecutive period of reduced overtime utilization and fewer personnel callbacks. Since the Department's overtime utilization peaked in late December, the number of overtime hours utilized, and the corresponding number of overtime callbacks generated, have dropped 70.5 and 78.7 percent, respectively. These savings were achieved without putting any of our more than 50 fire suppression companies or 22 front-line medic units out of service.