The City of Long Beach has reached a tentative three-year labor agreement with the Long Beach Police Officers Association (POA) to remain competitive with other agencies seeking quality police officers. The agreement also provides new referral and retention bonuses to recruit and attract new and lateral Police Officers.
“This agreement competitively positions our police department to recruit and retain the best police officers in the nation and will provide needed support for officers,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “Thank you to our Police Officers Association for their partnership on this agreement which will continue ensuring high-quality public safety for our community.”
The tentative agreement includes the following changes to address issues of recruitment and retention of Police Officers, as well as incentivizing critical skill sets.
“Our Police officers are incredibly dedicated to the safety of our community.” said City Manager Tom Modica. “This agreement supports them by fostering workforce safety, wellness and supportive services, in addition to competitive compensation, to ensure we continue to attract and retain the highest quality police officers to serve our community.”
The tentative agreement includes the following major terms:
- Three-year contract from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2025.
- General salary increases of 5.5 percent in the first year, 3.5 percent in the second year and 2.5 percent in the third year.
- Creation of Referral and Retention bonuses to help the City recruit and retain qualified Police Officers.
- Focus on wellness resources for Police Officers and their families by identifying a public-safety focused counseling provider to offer confidential, no-cost counseling services.
“I am pleased with this agreement that reflects the importance of retaining our incredible police officers and recruiting the best new officers to join our department. This contract is fair and will help support the safety and financial wellbeing of our officers,” said POA President Rich Chambers. “We appreciate the Mayor, City Council and City Manager for their commitment to supporting our police officers through this agreement.”
Members of the POA voted to ratify the agreement on October 18 and 21, 2022. The agreement will go before the Long Beach City Council for consideration and public discussion on November 1, 2022. The POA represents approximately 800 sworn employees.
Prior to reaching this agreement, City and POA representatives held seventeen meetings since June 2022. This agreement’s total structural annual net fiscal impact plus one-time costs once fully implemented in FY 25 is $28.78 million across All Funds ($27.54 million of which is in the General Fund).