City of Casper Spent $50,000 for Police Overtime During Protests

The City of Casper spent $50,000 for overtime for law enforcement who worked during protests about the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd during the week of June 1-5, the city manager said Tuesday.

"Fortunately, by the end of the week in question we were able to get some assistance from other agencies, which, of course, helped us leverage the resources we had on hand," Carter Napier said during the pre-meeting before the regular council meeting.

The $50,000 expenditure included overtime for law enforcement officers who came from Cheyenne, Napier said, who added that some agencies came to Casper but they did not charge for their services.

Council member Charlie Powell, looking at a memo about the expenses, wondered why the cost for overtime was so high, because the Wednesday demonstration and the Friday vigil sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference lasted maybe an hour each.

Napier responded that a number of events happened during the week, especially the demonstration that happened after the Wednesday demonstration, which was organized by Casper Youth for Change.

After that demonstration, a group of people not affiliated by that organization walked downtown and east on East Second Street to the east-side Walmart. They walked in the street, blocked traffic, turned back west and stopped in the middle of the intersection of East Wyoming Boulevard and East Second Street, and continued west toward downtown.

Casper Police eventually donned riot gear and walked west on East Second Street so traffic could continue to move. People were still gathering downtown through the evening on Wednesday, Napier said.

"So some of the calculations you're seeing here included those events, which in many cases were not (overtime) hours that we were anticipating," he said.

LOOK: Casper Protesters March Downtown to the East Side