AKRON, Ohio — Contract negotiations are underway between the Akron Police Department and the city of Akron.


What You Need To Know

  • Negotiations between the city and the FOP started in Oct. 2024

  • The current starting salary for new Akron police officers is $65,500

  • The most recent CBA expired in December

In his first contract negotiation, Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge 7 union President Brian Lucey is fighting on behalf of over 400 Akron police officers.

“We conduct surveys with our membership prior to this, and we ask all the members what they want as their top priorities for us to negotiate besides wages and benefits.” Said Lucey. And even with that, wages and benefits still came back on the survey sheet as things that were important to our members.”

Negotiations between the city and the FOP started in Oct. 2024. By December, no agreement was made. An outside fact-finder was brought in to listen to both sides’ pay, benefits and health care were all discussed. The fact-finder submitted their report and this past May, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik and the city council rejected that report.

 “We asked for 9%, 6%, 6% that was based off of comparable cities across the state of Ohio and what other departments comparable to Akron are making,” said Lucey.

The fact-finder report suggested a 5% raise for police union members this year, a 4.5% raise next year, and a 4.5% raise in 2027, plus a bonus. The current starting salary for the new Akron police is $65,500. Compared to other cities in Ohio, Cleveland starts at $64,530, Dayton at $74,788, and Cincinnati at $77,048. 

In a statement, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said, “The city deeply values and appreciates the work of our officers and wants them, and all employees, to be appropriately compensated. But the recommended terms of the fact-finder’s report are financially untenable and would create unsustainable cost obligations, jeopardize staffing and service levels across all departments and put the city’s short and long-term fiscal health at risk.”

Lucey said the people of Akron want a police department that shows up with qualified people and they are paying their taxes for that.

“We’ve heard a lot about that police and fire eat up over 50% of the city budget,” said Lucey. “Well, I would say that the citizens of Akron pay taxes because they want a strong safety force.”

The city has a fund that has around 26-million dollars. That funding is used for police, fire and roads. City officials plan to use over 3-million dollars of that fund for police staffing.

The most recent CBA expired in December. It will remain in effect until a new contract is signed.

Akron currently has around 430 officers, while 488 is considered fully staffed.

Jan. 1, 2024, was APD’s last raise, and it was 3%.

There is a sign-on bonus, and it is paid in increments.