NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The New Orleans Police Department’s highest overtime earner, Sergeant Henry Burke, collected $245,903 in 2024. NOPD pay records show Burke earned nearly a quarter of a million dollars despite a base salary of just over $83,000. Burke earned $121,460 in overtime last year, more than his regular salary.
He was not alone among NOPD officers collecting substantial overtime pay. In 2024, 23 NOPD officers earned more in overtime than their base salary. The majority were senior police officers, including Brandon Coleman, whose base salary was just over $64,000 in 2024, but with overtime and other pay, Coleman collected more than $217,000. Coleman claimed to have worked 16 hours or more on 146 days last year, according to NOPD payroll records.
“Follow the money. Follow the money. When you have officers that start going over $160,000, $180,000, $200,000, it is extremely difficult to get there,” said Skip Gallagher, a forensic scientist and NOPD watchdog who has been tracking NOPD overtime for years…