Honolulu's police department is overspending its budget, which is bad for taxpayers but could mean more cops back on patrol soon.

• The department is short about $34 million for the year, caused by unbudgeted raises, an unfunded school officer program, and hiring far more new officers than planned.
• Overtime is the biggest driver: patrol is so understaffed that the department spent roughly double its quarterly overtime budget just to keep shifts covered.
• The fix is to move officers from other roles back onto patrol, which should cut overtime costs down to the budgeted level.
• That shift has a real cost for officers and their families, who've had to give up personal commitments to cover extra shifts.
• The department is also rolling out new technology — drones that reach crime scenes within a minute, a real-time crime monitoring center, and license plate readers — to make policing more effective despite tight money.

Outlook: Expect officers to be reassigned back to patrol to curb overtime spending, while the department pushes city hall for more funding ahead of the next fiscal year budget.