Minneapolis police officers’ starting salaries would go from $69k to $75k under proposed labor contract

Minneapolis police sergeants who earned about $44 an hour in 2020 — the equivalent of $91,520 annually for 40 hours per week — would make $48 an hour, or nearly $100,000 by the end of this year under the tentative police union deal.

That’s not counting raises for longevity, which bumps up officers’ pay at escalating rates once they have worked for the department for seven years. 

Officers will get even more money in a lump sum if the contract is approved, plus another lump sum if they stay through the end of the year. 

The Minneapolis City Council has not yet approved the three-year labor agreement with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis; the council will take up the proposal Tuesday. Police have been working under the expired 2019 contract; the deal covers 2020 through 2022. 

The agreement would retroactively pay police 1% increases to wages and longevity pay in 2020, 1.5% in 2021, and 2.5% this year. Officers would also get a 2.5% “market adjustment” to wages and longevity pay this year.

According to calculations released by the city, a police officer starting out at $33 an hour — or the equivalent of $68,640 per year — after graduating from the police academy would make nearly $36 an hour, or nearly $75,0000 per year, by the end of 2022.

Lieutenants earning $51.49 an hour in 2020 —  the equivalent of more than $107,000 per year — would make $55.46 per hour, or $115,000 per year, by the end of 2022.

In an effort to retain officers, the city would also give officers lump sum payments of $3,500 once the deal is ratified, and $3,500 if they stay on through the end of 2022. 

New officers would get $3,500 after completing their field training, and another $3,500 after completing probation.

About 300 Minneapolis police officers have left MPD since 2020, including about 130 patrol officers — the equivalent of an entire precinct’s staff. About 50 officers were also on some kind of leave — such as sick leave — early this year, leaving fewer than 600 officers to work. The city spent about $12 million on overtime last year while grappling with a staffing shortage. 

Longevity pay increases would also go up under the contract. This year, they would range from an extra 26 cents per hour during the seventh year of service to $5.31 per hour in their 26th year of service.

Under the proposal, performance premiums would be removed from the contract.

The proposal also changes the process for officers after they are involved in a critical incident in which they or someone else is seriously harmed or killed. Officers would go on leave for seven days, instead of the current three days, and would have to undergo a mental health screening prior to returning to duty. The deal would also give the police chief more authority to decide where to assign officers after they return for duty.

Medical verification would be required for extended sick leave under the new contract.