Minneapolis Council Approves Bonuses For Police Officers

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council Thursday morning approved a new collective bargaining contract with the city's police union that will offer $7,000 as an incentive to become and stay an officer.

New officers of the Minneapolis Police Department will receive $3,500 upon completion of the field training program and an additional $3,500 upon completion of probation.

Current officers will also benefit. They will receive a bonus of $3,500 now and another $3,500 if they stay on duty through Dec. 31.

The three-year agreement also includes department-wide raises:

• 1 percent retroactive salary increase for 2020
• 1.5 percent retroactive increase for 2021
• Additional 2.5 percent market adjustment wage increase beginning Jan. 1, 2022
• Another 1 percent market adjustment wage increase applied Dec. 31, 2022.

The contract passed by a vote of 8 to 5. Jeremiah Ellison, Elliott Payne, Robin Wonsley Worlobah, Michael Rainville, and LaTrisha Vetaw voted to reject the contract.

Jamal Osman, Lisa Goodman, Andrea Jenkins, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai, Emily Koski, Andrew Johnson, and Linea Palmisano voted to approve the contract.

The bonus come at a time when the city is desperate to recruit new police officers and incentivize current ones to stay on duty.

Minneapolis has about 300 fewer police officers since the killing of George Floyd, the Star Tribune reported. Under the city charter, Minneapolis is required to maintain a minimum number of officers in relation to its population.

"Voting down the contract, to me, seems like a symbolic gesture, and this is not the moment for that symbolism," Council President Andrea Jenkins said.

Ellison — who rejected the new contract‚ countered, asking "What's to prevent a future council of 2025 or 2026 of being in this exact same scenario where negotiations have stalled, where we've sort of reached an impasse and they are voting for a contract with the promise that the next one will be better, that the next one is where the real work will begin, the substantive work will begin."

Read a summary of the new contract below: