Mayor Brandon Johnson hopes to give the Chicago Police Department a bigger pot of cash to spend on overtime next year, but wants the money to come with strings attached.

As aldermen wrapped their heads around the plan to rein in sky-high overspending during a Wednesday hearing on the department’s 2026 budget, police Supt. Larry Snelling welcomed the new restrictions, but defended spending an annual nine-figure sum on overtime as a necessary practice.

“There’s no way I’m ever going to sit up and tell you that it’s never going to be necessary to use overtime. We’re a police department, things happen,” Snelling said. “We have to make sure if we’re using it, that we’re using it in the most careful manner, the most responsible manner, and in order to do that, we have to have measures in pla

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