Raleigh police officers ask for better, competitive pay during Tuesday city council meeting
Hundreds of Raleigh police officers and advocates are fighting for better pay, and asked the city council for more competitive salaries during Tuesday's meeting.
The officers signed a petition ahead of Tuesday’s city council meeting to ask for more competitive salaries.
About 60 people total have signed up to speak during the city’s public comment session. More than half plan to discuss wages for the police department.
The union held a news conference at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, right before the Raleigh City Council's public comment session at 7 p.m.
"We are here again because the the city has not adequately addressed this problem," said Matt Cooper with the Raleigh Police Protective Agency. "Officers are continuing to leave without even having to change their address. They don't even have to move to get hired by a neighboring agency."
The Raleigh Police Department has about 100 vacancies, according to the Raleigh Police Protective Association.
“The way to maintain safety is to have a fully staffed police department and to keep us fully staffed," said Rick Armstrong, the Vice President of Teamsters Local 391 for the Raleigh Police Protective Association. "We need to have those substantial raises to make sure no more officers leave for other departments."
This isn't the first time officers have asked for a raise from the city.
In 2008, officers asked for a pay raise amid staffing shortages. That year, the Raleigh Police Department was down 89 officers from its authorized strength.
In 2008, the average police officer in Raleigh made $34,291 per year, the equivalent of $50,080 year in 2024.
In 2024, according to Armstrong, Raleigh police officers start around $50,000, while police departments in other Wake County municipalities are starting at about $55,000 to $60,000.
The city is currently conducting a pay study, but it won’t be complete until 2025.
The union did a pay study of its own. These numbers are from each respective police department's recruitment website.
The following figures reflect the base starting salary at local police departments, taken from websites or representatives:
- Apex: $60,090
- Charlotte: $57,192
- Wake Forest: Varies
- No experience: $56,778
- 3+ years of experience: $58,197
- 5+ years of experience: $59,617
- Fuquay-Varina: $57,005.87
- Greensboro: $55,000
- Knightdale: $55,916 to $83,251
- Garner: $54,708
- Holly Springs: $54,260
- Raleigh: $50,301
- Wendell: Varies
- Police Officer 1: $47,468 - $71,202
- Police Officer 2: $49,841 - $74,762
- Master Police Officer: $52,334 - $78,500
- Senior Police Officer: $54,950 - $82,425
- Zebulon: $47,144
The union asked city leaders for a 15% pay increase, which would put their base pay just less than $58,000.
"I think if you were to give police officers about a 15% raise, that would put us on par with the police departments around us," Armstrong said. "And so, we're looking at something around that area about 15% across the board rates for all police officers."
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson spoke during the public comment session of the meeting, saying Raleigh's recent growth contribute to the need for higher rates and not lose officers to surrounding agencies.
"When we look across the board at our salary rates, we just want to make sure that it's competitive," she said. "It's a challenge every day to come to work and knowing that you're not meeting the needs of the city across the city."
Armstrong said he believes that a 15% increase is reasonable to ask for because it would make Raleigh more in line with other departments.
"The city is growing, and with the growth you just need more police officers," Armstrong said. "The officers that are working have to work harder and [are] more stressed, and morale goes down."
"With the rate the city's growing, it's not appropriate for the police force that we need and the number of citizens that live within the city."
