ROCHESTER — It was a year of struggle for the Rochester Police Department as they navigated understaffing and an inflated overtime budget in 2024, spending $360,163 on overtime pay compared to the $182,941 average of the past 4 years.

“Prior to me coming here, a lot of officers had left to go to other agencies,” said Chief of Police Michael Assad. “So once I got here, I wanted to make sure that we kind of upped our staffing, made sure that we provided our offices the proper tools so they could succeed because that's important — very important.”

With the short staff, many officers were forced into overtime work due to mandatory protocol that there must be at least two officers on shift, explained Assad.

“If they’re already working their eight hours and they’re planning on going home or they’re planning on getting some sleep — and we have to force them — then they’re there for another eight so you have a tired officer,” said Assad. 

He added, “Using as much money as we did for overtime, obviously it’s not something that we want to do, the town wants to do, but we really had no choice when it came to because we had to make sure that the staffing was here.”

Assad said he joined the department in August 2024, determined to create positive change within his staff and community. He added he’s optimistic that the need for overtime will be reduced now that the staff is growing.

Recruitment is key to getting the department fully staffed once again and social media is one of their strongest tools for reaching out to young people, according to Assad.

“We use social media a lot now. I’m a big proponent of social media community policing,” said Assad. “It’s very important to reach out, especially to our younger people, to see that police officers are here to help, not hurt.”

The department has been working to fill the final two positions left open, including an opening for a full time patrol officer and an open captain position.

“This past year, obviously the department’s overtime budget was very high,” said Assad. “Looking forward now, the next fiscal year, I think it’s going to be drastically reduced because we’re almost at full staff.”