by Luke Sprinkel
The Minneapolis City Council voted on Thursday to approve a new contract with the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis (POFM), the union which represents officers with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). In accordance with that contract, officers with the city are set to receive pay raises.
For well over a year, Minneapolis police officers have been working without a contract. As such, the new contract applies retroactively, covering a three-year period from January 2023 through December of 2025.
According to the terms of the three-year contract, MPD officers will receive pay raises, some of them retroactively, on the first day of January and July for each year of the contract through 2025. In total, officers will see a 21.7% increase to their wages over the life of the new contract, according to the city.
As of 2022, Minneapolis police officers received a base starting monthly wage of $5,871, a recent Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) report indicated. According to the City of Minneapolis, the new contract and accompanying wage increases for Minneapolis police officers “means MPD officers will be among the highest paid in Minnesota by 2025.”
The contract was approved by the 13-member city council on an 8-4 vote, one city councilor was absent. The four councilors who voted against the new police contract were Aisha Chughtai, Robin Wonsley, Jeremiah Ellison, and Jason Chavez.
In a statement celebrating the new contract, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said “this contract provides the path forward we need. After more than nine months of tireless negotiations, we have a police contract that will properly compensate our officers for the hard work they do while paving the way to implement long-awaited reforms.”
In addition to the pay increases, the contract includes several reforms and policy changes. Those changes include preventing officers from being notified when a citizen requests public data on them, extending the time an officer can be placed on investigatory leave if there is an allegation of severe misconduct, and assigning certain clerical and investigatory work to civilians.
“The [Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis] is pleased the MPD contract was approved today,” the union said in a statement. “The approval process for the police contract has been unlike any other City contract. The men and women of the MPD have gone too long without a contract. They have gone far too long for competitive wages. They have waited far too long for council approval. We believe this contract will help MPD recruit and retain officers and help rebuild the MPD.”
MPD has faced a historic shortage of officers in recent years due to low recruitment and an increase in early retirements. The city’s charter stipulates that Minneapolis is supposed to have a minimum of 731 officers. In 2019, MPD had nearly 900 police officers on staff. Last month, Alpha News’ Liz Collin reported that the department has fewer than 500 officers.
Four years ago, the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) sued Minneapolis for not employing the minimum amount of police officers prescribed by the city charter. In 2022, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Minneapolis must employ 731 police officers.
In a statement, the UMLC celebrated the new Minneapolis police contract.
“The Minneapolis City Council’s vote today is directly tied to our work to ensure that the City addresses their dire officer shortage,” James Dickey, UMLC’s senior counsel, said in a press release. “This is a victory for the safety of residents, for the City, and for the rule of law. This vote was absolutely necessary to follow the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 2022 decision because the Mayor must have the tools necessary to hire the officers the Charter requires. Minneapolis residents deserve a fully staffed police department that can effectively protect and serve the community.”
Mayor Frey attempted to address the chronic understaffing of the Minneapolis Police Department last year with a measure to offer sign-on and retention bonuses to city police officers. However, the Minneapolis City Council rejected that proposal in November 2023. Those bonuses, which could have helped bring more officers to the city, were voted down by a margin of 8-5.
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Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
Photo “Minneapolis Police Department” by Minneapolis Police Department.
