GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Grand Rapids police officers are set to receive pay raises over the next three years.
The Grand Rapids City Commission approved new contracts with the city’s police unions earlier this month. Grand Rapids has two police unions – the Grand Rapids Police Officers Association and the Grand Rapids Police Command Officers Association.
The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association, which represents nearly 300 police officers, sergeants and crime scene technicians, secured a 12% salary increase for its members over the next three years, or a 4% raise per year.
Lieutenants and captains will receive an 11% raise over the next three years – a 5% raise effective July 1, 2025, a 4% raise in 2026, and a 2% raise in 2027, according to the new agreement with the Grand Rapids Police Command Officers Association.
The new Police Officers Association contracts will cost the city $2.99 million over the next three years, while the command officer contracts will cost $211,649, said city spokesperson Steve Guitar.
The last three-year contract with the police unions was approved by the city in 2022, and it included a 9.5% salary increase for Grand Rapids police through 2025. It also included greater accountability for the Grand Rapids Police Department, affording greater access for the city’s police oversight office into officer complaint investigations and providing a longer window for serious violations by officers to remain on their records.
The 2022 contract also stipulated that reports of disciplinary actions for the highest tier of violations would remain on an officer’s record for four years instead of two before they could be removed.
This new three-year contract keeps those accountability provisions in place, said Stacey Moody, the city’s bargaining team head. Like the 2022 contract, the new union agreement continues to provide the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability with greater access to interviews and documents related to internal investigations against police officers in instances of shootings, deaths, excessive force and more.
The police union and city bargaining teams also agreed to update the process in which an arbitrator will be selected when disciplinary action is challenged by way of a grievance filed by the Union on behalf of an employee, Moody said.
According to the salary schedule approved by the city commission, a police officer in 2025 can start at a salary of $74,487 and make a maximum salary of $95,971 as a senior officer. By 2027, the minimum police officer salary will go up to $80,566 and the maximum will be $103,802.
New Grand Rapids police recruits are currently making $56,335 a year. By 2027, that will go up to $60,932 a year.
Currently, police sergeants make between $99,582 and $106,789. By 2027, their salaries will range from $107,708 to $115,503.
In addition to the salary increases, the new contracts increase the retiree healthcare savings account contributions. It will also increase pensions by a compounding escalator of 1.5% five years after retirement to represent a cost of living increase – however, the pension amendments are set to be approved by the commission at its Aug. 26 meeting.
