DETROIT – The Detroit City Council has ratified a new contract between the police and the city, which means long-awaited pay raises for new Detroit police officers and veterans of the force has been approved.
The goal is to keep officer taxpayers’ pay for training cities like Indianapolis coming in and recruiting Detroit officers with the lure of much higher salaries.
Detroit police Chief James White, Mayor Mike Duggan, and the president of a police union, the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association, Lt. Mark Young, reacted to Wednesday’s (Nov. 9) approval of that higher pay for police.
“This will allow us to deploy more to the field, more to the streets, and more to the neighborhoods while also addressing our traffic problems,” said White. “We have a number of people driving too fast. We want to get the officers in the neighborhoods.”
“To bring the starting officers’ pay from $40 to $53 and to bring the four-year officers’ pay from $63,000 to $73,000, we are now competitive not just with the surrounding suburbs but many of the midwestern cities,” said Duggan.
“The men and women of the Detroit Police Department face increasing violence every day, and this agreement gives them some appreciation and respect, and it shows value,” said Young.
More: Police union pleads to city council for promised raises in Downtown Detroit
