HOUSTON — The City of Houston, the Houston Police Department and the Houston Police Officer’s Union have come to an agreement on the next three-year contract for police.
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Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and union leaders made the announcement following an HPD graduation ceremony on Thursday. Houston City Council is expected to review and approve it within the coming weeks.
Once approved, it will include a 10.5% pay increase over three years, according to Turner.
- 1st year: 4%
- 2nd year 3%
- 3rd year 3.5%
Including a separate deal regarding special pay, Turner said the agreement will pay $125 million to Houston police officers. Under the deal, officers on the street in the line of duty would get additional pay.
"They're the ones that are out there. They're the ones that are facing these suspects, these criminals. And so we certainly wanted to recognize their service to the police department," Turner said.
According to Turner and HPD Chief Troy Finner, about 70% of officers approved the deal.
"We’re also making a commitment to their pay," Turner said. "The additional pay to the officers on the street, that is being increased significantly."
The city wants to make pay more competitive so officers don't leave the department and feel appreciated for the dangerous work they do.
"We do have one or two persons a month that come in, especially the young officers, that say, 'this just isn’t for me,'" HPOU Executive Director Ray Hunt said. "There’s still a lot of folks out there that want to do it, but it’s difficult. I used to be able to recruit waiters or people at the car wash ... Unfortunately, when I say it now, they’re, like, 'uh, it’s probably not for me."
As part of the newly announced "One Safe Houston" initiative, 125 officers are added to the streets each day through overtime pay. Also, 61 cadets were sworn-in Thursday.
"I mean, when I look at this class ... we’re pulling people from New York, from New Jersey, from California, from Ohio," Turner said.
The City of Houston has also approved and budgeted for five more cadet classes in 2022, including at least one that is underway now. The classes will fill the ranks of hundreds of officers who are eligible to retire.
"It’s important to know that this administration has been very supportive of putting more officers out on the street. We do face retirements," Finner said.
There’s also been a revision to the "180-day rule" which applies to internal investigations of Houston police officers. Currently, they must be disciplined within 180 days of the crime committed. Under this new, yet to be approved contract, it would be 180 days of HPD learning of the crime.
Houston police are actively looking for people that are interested in applying for a job.
"We need more boots on the ground," HPOU President Douglas Griffith said. "Come see us. We’re hiring. The doors are open. We need all the help we can get."