Proposed 4-Year Police Contract Calls for 18% Raise

Los Angeles police officers will receive a series of raises totaling 18% over four years, costing taxpayers about $130 million, under a proposed contract hammered out Friday by the City Council and leaders of the police union.

The pact emerged after a marathon negotiating session behind closed doors at City Hall that stretched nearly six hours, and came just two days after the Police Protective League replaced its president with a notorious hard-liner.

“We’ve got a deal,” the new chief, Bill “In Your Face” Harkness, said as he scurried from City Hall to the union hall to get official approval from his board of directors. “It’s a good deal.”

Flanked by board members at a 7 p.m. news conference, Harkness added: “This will allow us to get back to the business of being the finest police department in this country. Our morale is going to go up, attrition is going to stop, and we’re going to be able to work with the mayor on our public safety plan.”

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Rank-and-file officers must still vote next week on the contract--which provides 5% raises each of the first three years and 3% the last year--but the relatively quick agreement between union leaders and lawmakers signals a smooth road. The current contract ends June 30.

Gone from the new proposal are two key issues that had rankled the officers: Giving up sick days in exchange for the raises, and having the union take over paying the salaries of people to defend officers accused of wrongdoing.

Council members agreed to drop those two provisions to get the fourth year locked into the contract at the lower increase.

Although an earlier proposal demanding that each employee give up four sick days a year would have saved the city about $4 million annually, that savings could have disappeared if the union negotiated another 5% raise for the fourth year.

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“Any time you can get a contract for longer than two years, three years, it’s to our advantage because there’s not the instability,” said Councilman Richard Alatorre, who heads the budget committee and was a key negotiator on the deal. “We’re dealing with the same dollars, basically. It’s good for everybody.”

The most contentious debate centered on so-called defense reps, a cadre of about two dozen full-time officers who help colleagues facing internal investigations for personnel complaints or other disciplinary matters. Currently, defense reps are on the city payroll, but many politicians want the union to pay the cost.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who heads the personnel committee, tried to make defense reps a key issue in the contract talks, but the league’s directors--many of whom have served as defense reps--insisted it stay off the table.

Ultimately, the two sides agreed to take the issue out of the contract and form a labor-management committee that will spend the next year discussing the fate of the defense reps as part of a broader reform of the entire disciplinary system.

Outraged, Goldberg left the session in a huff before the unanimous vote approving the deal, sources said.

“I think we need reforms, and I would like defense reps to not be [paid for by] the department, but I don’t think it needs to be done in the contract,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who heads the Public Safety Committee. “Now the defense rep issue is where it belongs. Instead of looking at defense reps as a fiscal issue, we should look at it as a disciplinary issue. In the end, there could be other ways to deal with it that might make who pays irrelevant.”

Art Mattox, vice president of the mayor’s Police Commission, praised the deal for bringing officers “to a fairer compensation for the job they do” but worried that the defense rep question could disappear without the pressure of contract negotiations.

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“We shouldn’t be paying for it. It’s just flat-out wrong,” Mattox said, suggesting that the union would be more selective in how it defended complaints if officers had to pay the bills themselves through dues. “Other agencies don’t do it that way, and it’s costing us millions. It’s very troublesome.”

Riordan, his deputy mayor for public safety and his press secretary did not return calls for comment late Friday.

Harkness said he still does not want the union to take on payment of the defense reps, which costs about $2 million a year, but he will cooperate with the plan to overhaul the discipline system, which he called “archaic.” The union leader had harsh words for Goldberg. “She reminded me of a tailgater when you look in the rearview mirror,” he said. “She doesn’t give a damn about you, she just wants to get past you.”

Goldberg could not be reached for comment.

The contract would boost an officer just off probation from $40,549 a year now to $42,575 next year and $48,436 at the end of the contract. A new lieutenant who now earns $66,085 would see an increase to $69,389 next year and $78,795 at the end of the contract.

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New recruits would see slightly lower raises, 4%, during their 18 months in the Police Academy and on probation.

Both sides agreed Friday that the breakthrough came because the police representatives were able to talk directly with council members rather than appointed negotiators. “We were able to take our case directly to the people who make decisions,” said Rick Wells, a league director. “What we found was an audience that listened, that understood our concerns, and that had the courage to make a decision.”

Councilman Joel Wachs, who is a member of the city’s negotiating team, agreed.

“They know we listened to them, we were concerned about their concerns, we genuinely wanted to do good by them,” Wachs said. “It’s very much what they deserve, and it’s an important step in showing them that we value and appreciate what they do.”

As Wachs drove home to the San Fernando Valley on Friday evening, police officers in a black-and-white patrol car noticed his special city plates and pulled up alongside.

“I’m sitting here talking to the press about your contract, which you’re going to be very happy about,” Wachs told the officer through his open window as he chatted with a reporter on a cellular phone. “You’ve got a very good contract. You’re going to get 18% over four years and no givebacks. None.”

“That’s great,” one of the officers told the councilman.

“Good, I’m glad you like it,” Wachs responded.

Then the officer added: “We’re going to Hawaii now.”