Batavia council OKs new contract for police patrol officers

New Batavia police patrol officers will be paid $80,460 a year as part of a union contract the city council approved Tuesday. The new three-year contract raised pay 3.25% this year. Next year, pay will increase 3%, and in 2024 it will increase 2.75%.

The top pay for an officer with six years of experience ranges from $110,939 this year to $117,410 in 2024.

Also, the contract says that if experienced officers join the department - what is called a lateral hire - they will be placed on the salary schedule at their current level of experience.

In addition, the new pact creates a designation of "master police officer." These will be patrol officers who have at least a decade of experience as certified police officers and have certifications in specialized topics or skills, such as field training officers, evidence technicians, computer forensics, and narcotics investigations. It also will include officers who have at least 1,000 hours of in-service training beyond basic training or have an undergraduate law-enforcement degree combined with 500 hours of in-service training. Officers would have to apply for the designation.

Master police officers will be expected to advise and train less-experienced officers, but they would not be their supervisors. They would be paid annual stipends.

The contract covers 31 patrol officers. Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 224 ratified the contract on Jan. 7.

Besides the patrol officers, the police department has four sergeants, three watch commanders, two deputy chiefs and a chief. The sergeants have their own union contract.

The department is fully staffed.