Union officials said LAPD already made sacrifices in 2020 when the City Council approved a $150 million cut to its police budget over the summer. That resulted in LAPD shuffling more than 300 positions, with some specialized detectives being reassigned to community stations and other neighborhood patrols being eliminated entirely.
The terms include a 2% pay raise on Jan. 1, 2022 and a 1.5% raise on July 1. The terms also include a pay freeze and no holiday pay premiums in 2021, along with reduced city contributions to the retiree health trust.
“The Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League is unanimous in its belief that its members deserve every penny of compensation that our contract prescribes. Period,” league president Craig Lally wrote to the city’s head labor negotiator.
Effective immediately, workers will get retroactive pay from March 16, and the first payout begins the week of April 20. The hazard pay will continue as long as the city is financially able to provide it.
Chief Diane Hobley-Burney presented a case to the city as to why she feels a bigger investment in the police department will reverse turnover trends.
Most of the $74 million allocated in the governor's proposed budget for pay hikes goes to public safety agencies such as corrections officers and highway patrol. Pay raises at other agencies are awarded only to those employees certified by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.
Seattle is coming armed with much better salaries and more frequent raises. Starting salary for a police officer in Honolulu is $65,592 per year versus $81,444 for a newly sworn officer in Seattle. For veteran officers, the pay gap is even larger.
The starting pay for police officers and fire-rescue workers will now be $60,000, according to the Dallas Morning News.
According to the news release, a recent arbitration hearing affirmed that BSO has been underpaying its employees for hours worked.
This week, the United States Senate passed a 1.9% pay raise for federal employees in 2019. But it's not a done deal.