San Francisco sheriff’s deputies prepped swag bags for a women’s leadership conference, passed out candy at the Scaregrove Halloween festival and mingled with attendees at the Miss Chinatown pageant.
And on each occasion, the sheriff’s office charged city taxpayers time and a half for their service.
Over the past several years, as the agency’s overtime spending has soared — jumping from $29 million to $57 million annually from the 2019 through 2026 fiscal years — department officials have painted the cost as the unavoidable byproduct of a long-running staffing shortage…