By Suzie Ziegler
RICHMOND, Va. — Like many agencies across the country, the Richmond, Virginia, Police Department is struggling to recruit. The department is down 140 officers or about 20%, according to NBC 12. Still, police officials hope a new recruiting campaign will improve their prospects.
Starting July 1, the City of Richmond will raise its starting salary of $44,000 to $51,000 to compete with neighboring municipalities, the report said.
The Richmond Coalition of Police negotiated the pay bump, and the union doesn’t want to stop there. Brendan Leavy, president of the Coalition, says the union now wants to push for collective bargaining.
That means individual contracts would be negotiated between officers and the department, thereby avoiding yearly budget fluctuations.
“I think collective bargaining would be a huge recruitment tool because having a fair contract for years to come, it doesn’t really matter who the politicians are,” Leavy told NBC 12.
The Richmond City Council discussed the matter of collective bargaining for all city employees, including police officers, at a meeting last month, but the outcome is not yet decided, WTVR reported. The Coalition hopes the council will approve a collective bargaining agreement in the coming weeks.
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