Alexandria Police Need Your Support

Alexandria Police Need Your Support

The Alexandria Police Department’s collective bargaining agreement is up for renewal, and officer pay has fallen far behind neighboring jurisdictions. Alexandria is now at risk of becoming the only local department with a starting salary below $70,000, fueling recruitment problems, resignations, and severe staffing shortages.

A neutral factfinder has confirmed that officers deserve significant raises and that the City can afford them. Now City Council must act.

Please send a message urging Council to accept the PBA’s proposal and invest in the officers who protect our community every day.

Your voice matters—thank you for taking action.

Regards,

Damon Minnix
President
Alexandria Chapter
Virginia Police Benevolent Association

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Your Message to the legislators

Dear (name and title inserted automatically),

I write to you today with an urgent request regarding the health of the Alexandria Police Department! The police department’s collective bargaining agreement is up for renewal this year, and the city must invest in its police department and members of public safety. The Alexandria Chapter of the SSPBA has been engaged in collective negotiations with the City’s management bargaining team for nearly eight months. Despite these lengthy negotiations, pay for sworn police officers in the City of Alexandria remains a critical issue.

Starting this next fiscal year, absent action from the city, the Alexandria Police Department will be the only police department in the nearby comparator regions with starting salaries below $70,000. In fact, Alexandria's pay is $10,000 - $15,000 behind some comparator regions and well below the average for the City’s identified comparators of Fairfax County, Arlington County, Prince William County, Prince George's County, and Montgomery County. This means that during this critical time, recruitment efforts are stagnating, and numerous officers have been leaving our city to move to nearby regions with higher pay. As a result, Alexandria is suffering severe law enforcement shortages, lower morale than officers have seen in years, and untold future risks of officers continuing to leave our city. This situation puts our city in increasing danger.

This past month, after hearing the SSPBA’s case at arbitration, a neutral factfinder reported that Alexandria's sworn officers deserve significant increases and that the City’s budget can allow for such increases.

When law enforcement risks their lives daily to protect the city, it is incumbent on the city to properly compensate them for their work, particularly when failing to do so will increasingly endanger those around them and constrict the police department’s ability to provide the level of services the community expects and requires.

City Council, I respectfully urge you to use your executive authority to accept VAPBA’s final offer to increase police sworn officer pay. The integrity of law enforcement in our city depends on ensuring that officers are treated fairly and paid competitively. Accepting the SSPBA’s offer in this case would not only be a just move to compensate the men and women who risk their lives daily for our protection, but also a crucial decision for the safety of our beloved city.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you will take action to support our city and those who protect it.