Dozens of Raleigh police officers, firefighters, and their supporters gathered in front of City Hall on a sunny and breezy Tuesday afternoon to demand higher wages.
The Police Department currently has 168 vacancies, or about 20% of the force, according to Matthew Cooper, president of the Raleigh Police Protective Association.
"The staffing levels in our police department have reached dangerous lows. This affects response times. This affects officer safety," Cooper said.
Starting salary for an Raleigh police officer is $42,300; starting salary for a firefighter is $39,200. A senior police officer can make as much as $77,175 while a senior firefighter can make as much as $72,050 under the current pay plan. In this context, "senior" is one rank higher than officer or firefighter and below detective, sergeant, or lieutenant.
On Tuesday, the Raleigh City Council authorized a 2% cost-of-living adjustment for all full-time employees. This includes police and fire and will become effective April 23.
With inflation at nearly 8%, Rick Armstrong, vice president of Teamsters Local 391, which represents Raleigh police officers, said that amounts to a salary decrease.
"With inflation, they're going to make less this year than they did last year," he said. "That truly is unacceptable."
Substantial salary increases would mean higher costs for the city, which Armstrong acknowledged could mean higher taxes.
"If they have to cut spending in other areas, that should be no problem," he said. "If they have to raise taxes, that shouldn't be a problem at all. But bottom line is your public safety; your police and fire should be the priority number one. And then once they're paid fairly and compensated, everything else should be looked at."
At an April 11 work session, council heard a presentation that would see salary increases for police, fire, and emergency communications employees. At that session, council members voiced support for increased pay generally, but did not approve anything specific. It's possible the proposed adjustments will be more formally proposed at a future meeting.
