Houston’s mayor, John Whitmire, announced that the city’s police cadets will get a big pay raise. This is the first time in almost ten years that their pay has gone up.
The dedicated workers’ base pay will go up from USD 42,000 a year to USD 52,000 a year as of right now. Cadets will also get a bonus of $5,000 USD when they finish their training and get certified. This will bring their total earnings for the first year to 57,000 USD.
Minimum Wage Increase Goal
The goal of this pay change is to make things better for cadets at work and encourage more people to become police officers. Officers who just finished will get another pay raise after six months on the job, bringing their total annual salary to USD 62,574.
Whitmire stressed that even though this raise is big, it doesn’t fully show how much effort and hard work are needed to be a police officer.
But he thought it was an important step toward making the jobs of police officers better, since they risk their lives every day to keep people safe.
Minimum Wage in Texas: How Much Do Other Cities Pay?
Even though the pay went up, Houston is still not as well paid as other Texas towns.
For example, police officers in Dallas already make a base salary of USD 70,000, which shows that pay rates in Houston need to be changed again and again.
How to Apply to be an Officer in Texas?
The new Chief of Police in Houston, Noe Díaz, praised the measure and used it as a chance to tell the cadets to find new police officers.
Why? The department has had a staffing problem for a long time. It is hoped that this pay raise will help bring in more applicants and make the city safer.
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