The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 on Wednesday, Aug. 23, to ratify a contract with the city’s police officers that would bump up their starting salaries by nearly 13% and provide annual base raises of 3%. Taken together with additional bonuses, officers covered by the contract will get a 4% to 6% wage increase each year for four years.
Mayor Karen Bass and those who support the contract say the heavy investment is critical for retaining and recruiting officers in the Los Angeles Police Department, which has seen its numbers dwindle over the years.
“Our police department, just like other major city police departments, is enduring a hiring and retention crisis,” Bass said in a statement. “Around the same time that we struck a tentative agreement, the LAPD sworn force dipped below 9,000 for the first time since 2002. I want to thank the leaders of the City Council for supporting this action and I look forward to working together to ensure that Angelenos are safe.”
Bass has set a goal to increase the number of sworn officers in the department to about 9,500 by June 2024 – a goal that many consider difficult to reach given the continued attrition rates and low number of new recruits.
The department had 8,995 sworn officers for the pay period ending July 29, according to a report to the police commission.
As a result of the labor agreement, LAPD’s annual budget is projected to increase by at least $384 million by the end of the contract, Cumulatively, the city is projected to spend $994 million in additional funds over the life of the contract.
These projections assume the city will have 9,100 sworn officers on its payroll by the end of this fiscal year, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the City Council.
The contract the council approved Wednesday, which had already been ratified by the police union, applies to rank-and-file officers, sergeants, detectives and lieutenants.
Union spokesperson Tom Saggau said in a statement that…
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