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ST. LOUIS — A nonprofit that funds local police departments committed another $1 million to fund extra police patrols in downtown St. Louis.

The move almost triples the initial financial pledge made in June 2023 by the St. Louis Police Foundation, increasing the city’s extra patrol initiative funding to $2.54 million.

The Post-Dispatch in March reported the foundation had increased the overtime budget by $640,000, nearly doubling its original pledge of $860,000 and bringing its budget to $1.5 million. But that amendment wasn’t written correctly, said Sgt. Charles Wall on Friday.

“The intent of the amendment was to add an additional $1.54 million to the maximum reimbursable amount,� Wall wrote in an email.

Wall said he did not know when the second amendment was added, and the police department did not immediately provide the contracts in response to a records request on Friday.

The officers are paid $70 an hour — about $15 to $25 more per hour than officers’ typical overtime pay — to work secondary shifts through a program spearheaded by St. Louis police Chief Robert Tracy.

The extra patrol shifts, which began last July, are aimed at deterring crime and improving public perception of safety downtown — the region’s geographic, business and entertainment hub.

Through July 11, the department has invoiced more than $1.5 million of overtime pay for sergeants and officers, according to documents received through an open records request.

The St. Louis Police Foundation, controlled by a group of some of the wealthiest St. Louis businesspeople, traditionally provided money for training and equipment for the city police department. But since last summer, it has also given money for extra patrols downtown as the department struggles to fill vacancies — the department is budgeted for about 1,275 officers but employed only 893 this week (including officer trainees).

The organization has also begun paying for more and more personnel costs. And with the money moving through the private foundation, rather than the police department, police have been able to skirt public records laws and avoid disclosing contracts and pay details.

The overtime wages appear to be the only expense the department has to formally invoice the foundation for, which is why the records are publicly available through a Sunshine request.

In addition to those wages, the foundation funds more than a third of Tracy’s $275,000 compensation — a move that increased the chief’s pay to make the position more appealing.

The agreement between the foundation and the chief was not released until a member of the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression pushed the foundation for a copy and provided it to the Post-Dispatch.

And last summer, the foundation began paying a Wilmington, Delaware, man to write and edit official communications for the chief and oversee the agency’s website revamp — but both organizations refused to release records detailing how much money he has been paid.

The St. Louis Police Foundation’s president and executive director, Michelle Craig, said last year that the organization’s “mission does not include personnel costs.�

She also said in May she does not intend to provide documents to the Post-Dispatch moving forward.