Fears of Trouble Recruting NYPD Cops Comes True

As I noted last year, the NYPD contract with the city actually lowered the starting salaries of incoming rookie cops to $25,000 for the first year. That's an absolutely rediculous amount considering the cost of living in the City and that simple fact is coming back to haunt the police force's recruitment efforts.

The Daily News points out that the rookie cops need a raise. I can't disagree with that. I was arguing against the salaries being lowered for rookies at the same time it was raised for senior members of the force. It was hedging short term budget fixes for the long term stability of the police force, which is the largest in the nation.

That the NYPD is struggling to attract top-flight officers is a shame of the first magnitude. Good jobs with excellent benefits and high respect are at a premium, yet the most professional law enforcement agency in the country, if not the world, is going begging for applicants. What's wrong with this picture?

For one thing: pay.

New York is now reaping the disastrous consequences of slashing the starting salary of city cops to $25,100 for the first six months of training and service while also extending the length of time an officer must wait before reaching top grade. Parks gardeners do better - and without having to worry about getting shot by dandelions.

A labor arbitrator cut the NYPD's rookie pay by almost a third in a 2005 labor settlement that was imposed after Bloomberg and Lynch failed to reach agreement on a pact after years of negotiations. Unlike other municipal labor leaders, Lynch (pictured) refused to help finance substantial raises by giving the city productivity savings. The arbitrator did the job for him, awarding cops 10% raises over two years and taking the money out of the rookies' checks.

This year, Bloomberg took Lynch back to arbitration on a new contract after getting no response on an offer to raise the starting salary to $37,800 for the first six months and to $40,000 after six months if the PBA would agree to cops getting two weeks' vacation, not four, for the first five years, and six fewer holidays. Which was much more than reasonable, more than fair, but Lynch has refused to cooperate even with arbitration.

UPDATE:
By the numbers. It doesn't look good for the NYPD when you note that the last time that the NYPD rookie salary was $25,100 was back in 1986.