The union representing members of the Bloomington Police Department signed a new contract from 2019-2022, last Friday, according to Don Owens Memorial Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 88 president Paul Post.
The contract gives police a 1000 dollar bonus to cover a raise in 2019, a 2.65-percent raise for 2020, 2.80 for 2021, and 2.9 for 2022, according to Post. However the new contract took away the seniority shift preference benefit, and replaced it with a non-seniority bid system, said Post. Post said that under the new rules that begin January 1, 2020, 75-percent of each shift is biddable, and 25-percent is set by administrators in the police department.
“The troops aren’t real happy. But, we’re glad to be done with the process,” said Post.
Post said the police department is still six officers short of the goal to have 103 working in the city, and the new budget adds two more officers to the goal.
In a previous story by The Bloomingtonian, it was noted that the Bloomington Police Department pays less than some others around the state of Indiana, and has been losing officers at a constant rate to other departments. Post said those issues were not adequately addressed with the raises in the new contract, and the department will likely continue to lose well trained officers to other cities, and agencies.
