N.Y. police say starting pay so low it has hurt recruitment

NEW YORK — They're known as "New York's Finest," but their starting pay isn't.

Newly hired sanitation workers, Central Park gardeners and plumbing inspectors make more than the $25,100 annual salary earned by rookie officers at the nation's largest police department. The compensation is so low that it has hurt recruitment and become the latest symbol of a bitter labor battle.

The New York Police Department's (NYPD) entry-level pay is "bizarre," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly conceded at a recent city council hearing.

Officials with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) agree. But who's to blame remains in dispute even as the city and union await an arbitration-panel's decision on a new contract.

"The truth of the matter is the low starting salaries for police officers was the choice of the police union," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The PBA, which represents 23,000 patrol officers working under an expired contract, says it was forced to accept lower salaries to avoid making productivity concessions during the last deal in 2005. The department has a total of 37,000 officers of all ranks.

Until 2005, the starting pay for new police officers was about $36,000. But as part of an arbitrator's decision to award current officers a 10.25 percent retroactive raise, entry-level salaries were slashed.

The deal called for new hires to start at $25,100, then receive $32,700 after six months and $34,000 after 18 months. Since then, stories have circulated about rookies needing to take out loans to pay for their uniforms, apply for food stamps and live at home with their parents.

Police officials say the drop in starting pay has stymied recruitment. The current police-academy class of about 1,100 officers fell more than 900 short of the department's goal.

"No one becomes a cop to become rich, but you have to at least be able to survive," Kelly said.

The latest round of negotiations reached an impasse last year after the union rejected a city offer to raise the starting pay by $10,000.The union accused the city of trying to make officers work longer hours to offset raises that would still leave its members vastly underpaid.

More than 900 officers resigned last year, compared with only 379 a decade earlier, the union said.

One former NYPD officer, Glenn Tarquinio, quit the force in 2002 after 16 years to become a 40-year-old rookie with the Suffolk County Police Department, which pays newcomers $57,811. He said he grew tired of working a second job to make ends meet.

With overtime, Tarquinio now makes well over $100,000 a year.