By Lucas Franco de Siqueira, NDG Special Contributor
Dallas Police officers and firefighters gathered at the Dallas City Hall this morning. They gathered to attend the city’s budget meeting with the intent of calling attention to their need for more remuneration. According to a statement issued by the Dallas Police Association (DPD) has been attempting to negotiate with the city manager, A.C. Gonzalez, without success for the past six months.
Now, after the tragedy of July 7, the Dallas police officers and firefighters believe it is the right time to push city leaders towards better salaries and benefits. The President of the Dallas Police Association, Don Pinkston told WFAA earlier today, “The Mayor and the city manager haven’t made a commitment to public safety, so we have to go to the council and the citizens.”
The city manager offered a plan to hire more officers and increase payments. However, the plan of better salaries are limited to apply only to a select group of officers and not to veterans. Pinkston said the proposed payment plan would not contribute significantly in the present scenario, and Dallas police officers would still be behind many North Texas cities with it.
The starting salary of a police officer in Dallas is $44.659, while the starting salary for Forth Worth and Plano are $52.176 and $63.757, respectively.
While they’re pushing for more money, they should ask for better training too. What can they do to make the community appreciate them more…That is what they should be trying to push for…or is it all about the money to them….??? What can be done to make fewer citizens fear them?…that is what they should be pushing for…
In fact police officers who risk their lives in their role of protecting the population every day deserve to be well paid.
i like raise. inot had in 6 or 7 years
Being an officer of the law deserves respect from both the community and the government and part of that respect should be reflected as pay.