Detroit reached a 5-year contract agreement with its largest police union on Wednesday, a deal that will give cops a pay raise and put more officers on the street, city officials said.
Members of the Detroit Police Officers Association will receive an 8% pay raise up front. It comes after years of wage cuts all city workers have faced in recent years as Detroit’s finances spiraled into insolvency. Overall, the contract provides for a 15.5% raise over the next five years.
But Mayor Mike Duggan praised the deal, signed in his office Wednesday afternoon, as a way forward for improving public safety in Detroit. Under the deal, the Detroit Police Department will be allowed to hire retired officers for non-patrol jobs and to move 150 officers from desk duty into neighborhood patrols.
The city said Duggan, Police Chief James Craig and DPOA president Mark Diaz found savings in the department’s operations to pay for the wage increases. The average starting salary for a DPD officer is $48,000.
“We have the best police officers in the country. They deserve to be compensated for the job they do and this is a step in the right direction,” Craig said in a statement.
The deal was hashed out in private mediation talks handled by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts.
“Public safety is the most important service our city provides and how well we provide it starts with how we treat our officers,” Duggan said. “This new contract is an important step forward in our ability to provide the level of public safety our residents deserve and to make sure our officers are fairly compensated.”
Diaz credited Duggan for bringing all sides together in contract bargaining.
“Had the mayor not intervened and taken an active approach in this process, the DPOA would not have an agreement today,” he said.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2014/10/01/detroit-police-contract/16558337/