By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last week, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed a new contract with rank-and-file police officers following its approval by the Seattle City Council. The agreement between the City of Seattle and the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG) raises wages for the entire police force dating back to 2021.
According to Harrell, this new contract will make the Seattle Police Department (SPD) one of the most competitively paid in the state of Washington. In addition, Harrell believes that the new contract will help strengthen the public safety system by addressing SPD’s staffing crisis, expanding civilian public safety responses, and strengthening police accountability.
Prior to the approval of the new contract, SPD officers had a starting salary of $83,000; after the passing of the contract, SPD officers will make a starting salary of more than $102,000.
“The new police officer contract is a needed step forward to advance our vision for a city where everyone, in every neighborhood, is safe and feels secure,” says Harrell. “The contracts will increase 1.3% retroactive to 2021, 6.4% retroactive to 2022, and 15.3% retroactive to 2023. Officers will receive retroactive payments in their paychecks. The contract applies to all rank-and-file SPD officers who worked in the department during the time frame of the contract.”
Facing staffing shortages recently, SPD has been at its lowest staffing level in roughly 30 years. In the last 5 years, more than 700 officers have departed from the SPD and that number continues to rise. With the recent approval of the new contract with rank-and-file police officers, Harrell hopes that the contract will cause an increase in staffing for the SPD.
“SPD’s staffing crisis is the result of many things including many officers reaching retirement age, a competitive labor market, and low morale due to high workloads,” says Harrell. “Lower pay compared to neighboring jurisdictions is also one of these factors which the new contract addresses by ensuring wages are competitive with other departments in Washington and other major U.S. cities.”
Despite the police staffing crisis being recognized as a nationwide challenge, the city of Seattle’s Comprehensive Recruitment and Retention Plan, a plan that increases the capacity, efficiency, and effectiveness of police officer recruitment, has shown encouraging signs that will attract more officers to the SPD and modernize the application process to accelerate hiring.
One of the key components of the new contract is the ability of the city to use more civilian resources to assist in more public safety responses, freeing up limited police resources to answer high priority calls. Having things like responding to noise complaints, wellness checks, missing property, acting as hospital guards for low-level offenders, and review of automated traffic safety camera violations handled by civilians will help reduce the strain on SPD staffing and resources.
Since the new contract only covers 2021-2023, negotiations for the 2024 contract are in the works as Harrell is working with SPOG to create a contract that will include work to strengthen police accountability, civilian alternatives, and other items proposed by the city based on input received from community partners and the federal judge.
“I want to thank our officers for the work they do every day to keep us safe, and I want to thank our City Council partners for supporting this agreement that will make meaningful improvements to officer pay and staffing, to accountability so misconduct is investigated, and to new efficiencies through diversified response options. Seattle is a world-class city, and the updated wages and terms in this agreement reflect a commitment to building, recruiting, and retaining the world-class police service our community deserves,” says Harrell.