Crime doesn’t pay, but, thankfully, now Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety does.
Earlier this month, Allied International Union, which represents DPS officers, accepted the University’s proposal for a three-year contract that guarantees a $2.50 per hour pay raise and an increased starting salary for new officers. Under the new agreement, salaries for newly hired DPS officers will jump from $15.60 per hour to anywhere from $17 to $22 per hour.
The agreement ends a months-long round of negotiations, which began in August, between Allied International Union and the University. The pay raise is long overdue for the officers, whose salaries lag behind those of their counterparts at other D.C. area universities. The final decision is a far cry from Allied International Union’s initial request for $4 per hour increases, but the compromise suits both parties well—DPS officers received their first pay raise since 2007, and the University demonstrated a growing devotion to employees’ needs despite economic limitations.
The new contract grants DPS officers the competitive salaries that they deserve and will help ensure that the University is able to staff DPS with qualified employees. The department’s current low retention rate creates instability and understaffing. Hopefully, this wage increase will improve the retention rate and attract more highly qualified applicants.
Last semester’s initiative to raise officers’ wages, organized by the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, should be commended for raising awareness about the issue among students. Although there is no way of knowing how the initiative impacted negotiations, it is important for students to understand how the labor contract impacts public safety at Georgetown.
While Solidarity’s general objectives were admirable, their method of getting the word out about the issue—hijacking discussions after this fall’s alleged hate crimes—was inappropriate and misleading. The wage raises will most likely improve DPS’s effectiveness, but Solidarity’s claim that higher wages would prevent similar crimes from occuring on-campus was weak and had the unfortunate side effect of distracting from the larger issue of homophobic violence at Georgetown.
The unfortunate fact is that crime will always be a presence on college campuses. But with more fairly compensated officers, DPS will be better able to respond to crimes when they do occur. Georgetown should be commended for giving officers, who provide a vital service to campus, a wage more in keeping with the work they do to keep us safe.
It gives the wrong impression to say that DPS got a $2.50 raise and they wanted $4. It’s a multi-year contract. They got a $2.50 raise in the first year and will, presumably, get additional raises throughout the term of the contract. The same goes for 2007. You say they haven’t gotten a raise since 2007. Not true. The last contract started in 2007, at which time they got a raise. They then got subsequent raises during the term of the contract. The way you’ve written this implies the University is the bad guy (or at least more of the bad guy than they are). You should ask your DPS sources for copies of the contracts so you can get the facts straight.