More than 1,000 police officers began receiving their overtime payments yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister K. Peter Turnquest told The Bahama Journal that the government paid police officers a total of $2.17 million for overtime that was promised.

As promised by both the former and current administrations, police officers who worked 12-hour shifts in 2013 and 2014 would be paid.

The former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, during their campaign trail, promised to pay police officers on May 29.

However, the Free National Movement (FNM) government agreed to honour the payment date.

The first of those payments started at 9 a.m. yesterday and will continue until tomorrow, ending at 4 p.m. at the Police Training College.

When probed, yesterday morning, concerning the amount of money that will be paid to police officers, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis told reporters that the information would be revealed in short order.

“You’re going to get a complete report of our Budget Communication on Wednesday,” he said.

“The minister of finance is putting it all together and we will finalize that at cabinet tomorrow morning.”

However, Mr. Turnquest revealed later yesterday evening the total that was paid for police overtime.

As specified by the former government, the second overtime payout will come in the next budget cycle.

News of the overtime pay comes despite former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s prediction during an FNM rally that the payouts would not happen, as the public treasury is broke.