LINCOLN — The state is headed for another battle over adequate pay for law enforcement officers.
In September, the union that represents Nebraska State Troopers will begin bargaining with the state over a new labor contract, and they maintain that troopers’ salaries are lagging far behind the pay for police officers and county deputies in the state.
The negotiations come as, nationally, law enforcement agencies are facing what some are labeling a “crisis” in recruiting new officers. Authorities cite the pandemic, negative impressions of police following the in-custody death of George Floyd in 2020 and the long training process required for causing the lag in attracting new police officers, deputies and troopers.
But low pay, according to union officials, is part of it.
Starting pay for Nebraska state troopers is $51,105 a year, or $24.57 an hour. That is about $6 an hour less than what new police officers are paid in Lincoln and Papillion and $5 an hour less than the pay for new Omaha police officers.
All told, at least 14 law enforcement agencies in the state have higher starting pay than the State Patrol, according to the State Law Enforcement Bargaining Council, which negotiates for the state troopers.
Even state corrections officers earn higher starting salaries than state troopers: $58,240 a year.
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