Detroit Proposes Pay Raise for Police
Detroit police earn $10,000 less than other officers. But city officials say they are ready to offer police a raise.
Detroit officials are proposing a plan to increase wages for police officers in the city by 4%.
City officials say Detroit pays police officers about $10,000 less, on average, than most of the surrounding suburbs and far less than many other cities with much less crime.
Officials say that’s helped cause the force to lose about 15 officers each month and hurt efforts to recruit replacements.
Now Mayor Mike Duggan says he’s doing something unheard of in the city – offering police a raise years before the union contract is up.
Duggan says the starting salary will rise from just under $32,000 currently to $36,000.
“This isn’t gonna catch our officers up in one fell swoop,” Duggan said. “And Detroit’s not in a position to do that. But it’s a statement that we care, that as the city’s finances improve we are gonna act to spend what we can and I hope that in the future we are able to do this again.”
Duggan says the salary increase will be paid for by cutting fees paid to consultants, operational savings and using some capital funding set aside to help build a new police precinct.
