Minneapolis might give police a raise. Here's how it would compare
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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara in February 2024. Photo: Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via Getty Images
The Minneapolis City Council will decide this week whether to make the city's police officers among the highest-paid in the Twin Cities.
Why it matters: Mayor Jacob Frey and Chief Brian O'Hara have argued pay increases are key to replenishing a department that has hemorrhaged more than 300 officers since 2020.
State of play: The council will vote Thursday on a contract agreement that, through a series of retroactive and new salary increases, would boost MPD officers' wages by 21.7% by July of next year.
Friction point: Critics argue Minneapolis' new contract doesn't include enough concrete fixes for issues like officer discipline to justify the steep increase.
- Council members have also balked at the mayor's plan to pay for the raises with money already earmarked for alternatives to traditional policing.
The big picture: The proposed increase mirrors those planned in several other larger Twin Cities departments, which are also looking to staff up amid a nationwide struggle to attract new officers.
- St. Paul, Plymouth, and Bloomington are all on track to increase officers' starting salaries by more than 20% between 2022 and 2025, according to their respective union contracts.
What they're saying: "If you can go to a smaller department, under less scrutiny, with better morale, for more money, why would you come here?" City Council member LaTrisha Vetaw told Axios.
Between the lines: At least one study has shown that higher-paid officers are less likely to quit or be fired.
Yes, but: Across the U.S., Stateline reports many big cities have raised police pay only to see officers leave anyway.
Salaries won't be enough to reverse MPD's attrition problems, argues Michelle Gross of advocacy group Communities United Against Police Brutality.
- "It's the culture of the department, solid recruiting strategies, and a shorter and easier hiring process," Gross told the council last week.
By the numbers: If the new contract takes effect, city staff say only three other metro departments would pay a higher starting salary than MPD (Blaine, Minnetonka, and Burnsville).
- Staff found MPD would offer the highest top-end officer salaries — $118,000 per year — of the 24 other local departments they examined.
- Only a handful of those agencies would offer more competitive salaries for higher-ranking sergeants and lieutenants.
The fine print: Many MPD officers already earn six figures thanks to overtime work, the Minnesota Reformer has reported.
Zoom out: In another sign of cutthroat competition, departments across the country are poaching officers from neighboring agencies with signing bonuses.
- Two out of every five departments surveyed by the Police Executive Research Forum last year reported using these incentives — yet chiefs surveyed also reported they were a mixed bag.
- For many police departments, the authors concluded, "Overcoming staffing issues will take deeper, longer-term departmental changes."
Go deeper: ICYMI, our special issue of the newsletter on MPD and its chief.