Baton Rouge, La. — August 10, 2022 — Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome received the unanimous support of the Metropolitan Council this evening to increase pay for police, fire, EMS, DPW and other East Baton Rouge City-Parish employees. Beginning September 10, 2022, the City-Parish will increase municipal fire and regular classified/unclassified employees' pay by 5% and increase municipal police employees’ pay by 7%.

In addition to the 7% across-the-board raise proposed for municipal police personnel, future entry-level police officers will be hired at a special recruiting rate of Step 5. After one year, an entry-level police officer with a bachelor’s degree hired at Step 5 who has received a 3% merit raise at six months of employment, and has become eligible for state supplemental pay, will have a base salary of approximately $50,000. These additional pay increases, when added to the 6% granted in 2021, will make salaries for Baton Rouge Police Officers comparable to other local law enforcement agencies in the surrounding area. All police officers who are currently below Step 5 will be increased to this step upon implementation of the amended pay plan.

This marks the first city-parish-wide pay raise since 2015. This is also the third and largest increase allotted to sworn Baton Rouge Police Department personnel under Mayor Broome’s administration after a 6% increase last year.