Major Pay Raise for Cops Announced Wednesday
Matt Delaney | September 4, 2025
(The Washington Times) — D.C. leaders put the city’s “defund the police” era firmly in the rear view Wednesday by announcing a major pay raise for officers, sergeants and detectives in the Metropolitan Police Department.
Mayor Muriel Bowser presented a new collective bargaining agreement that provides a 13% pay raise for cops who are part of the DC Fraternal Order of Police Union — just five years after the city had cut nearly $40 million from the Metropolitan Police budget and droves of officers left the department following protests against George Floyd’s police-involved murder in Minneapolis.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who oversaw lawmakers’ actions that defunded MPD amid the nationwide Black Lives Matter fervor, acknowledged Wednesday that “this is a different council than what we had in 2020.”
“It’s actually a different society across the country with regard toward its attitudes about public safety,” said Mr. Mendelson, at-large Democrat. “I fully expect that the council will be approving this contract on the 17th so that it can be implemented as quickly as possible.”
Mr. Mendelson said he agreed to move legislation when the council returns from its recess to make sure the pay raises take effect next month as planned.
But D.C. Police Union Chairman Gregg Pemberton told The Washington Times that he’s not buying the lawmaker’s newfound affection for cops working the beat.
Mr. Pemberton pointed to Mr. Mendelson, saying he won’t revisit the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act, a 2022 law that barred the union from negotiating on disciplinary measures.
Union leaders argue that the law, which banned certain types of chokeholds and crowd control tactics and stripped legal protections for officers, discourages people from joining and continuing to work for the Metropolitan Police.
Mr. Pemberton said the pay raises, while good for officer morale since the department relies heavily on overtime to cover for shortages, were set to take hold eventually because of a prior court order.
Immense pressure from the federal government and the mayor, Mr. Pemberton said, motivated the council to push through the collective bargaining agreement because it is “low-hanging fruit” to show that “they’re doing something to fix police.”
“But if you press Mendelson, which is what some of the reporters were doing, I think he’s going to tell you, ’No, I’m not going to change any of the underlying problems that we created,’” Mr. Pemberton said.
The D.C. Police Union is receiving help from Republicans in Congress. This week, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia introduced the Common-Sense Law Enforcement Accountability Now (CLEAN) Act. If enacted, the legislation would revoke the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act.
Mr. Pemberton expressed confidence that the House will approve the bill, but said it would take some lobbying to get the 60 votes necessary in the Senate.
Congress voted to repeal the D.C. law in 2023, but then-President Joseph R. Biden vetoed the measure.
At Wednesday’s press event, Mr. Mendelson rejected the talking point about the council defunding the police in 2020. A review of budget negotiations from fiscal 2021 challenges his perspective.
Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, had proposed giving $578 million to the Metropolitan Police that year. But the council’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety removed roughly $15 million from the proposal, and the entire council voted to award a $23 million school security contract to D.C. Public Schools rather than the Metropolitan Police.
In short, city lawmakers subtracted $38 million from D.C. police funding.
It’s unclear what effect that had on the department’s functions, but it coincided with the departures and retirements of more than 500 uniformed officers. The Metropolitan Police Department has been operating at roughly a 50-year low in officers ever since, with about 3,200 sworn officers currently on staff.
Ms. Bowser said the city is making progress toward boosting MPD numbers by hiring 135 recruits this year and welcoming another 124 cadets into the academy. Her goal is to get MPD up to 4,000 officers.
The mayor also shared that non-union officers — those at the rank of lieutenant and above, often referred to as “white shirts” — will receive a pay raise when the new collective bargaining agreement is slated to take effect Oct. 1.
On Tuesday, Ms. Bowser penned an executive order outlining a framework for federal cooperation when President Trump’s declared crime emergency comes to an end next week.
The mayor established the Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center to give federal authorities ideas of how to assist the District’s public safety goals, such as tackling violent crime and helping get guns off the streets.
Ms. Bowser’s order said the District will keep working with the FBI, the U.S. Park Police, the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies.
Her order further urged law enforcement to ditch the masks that shield their identities and sow distrust among city residents.
Ms. Bowser appeared on Wednesday to indicate that Metropolitan Police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be reduced when the emergency period ends Sept. 10.
Two weeks ago, the mayor noted significant reductions in slayings, robberies and carjackings amid the surge of federal agents and National Guard troops in the District.
Mr. Pemberton, the police union chairman, said the White House’s action has made criminals “crawl back under the rock where they came from” because they fear accountability again.
But Ms. Bowser and the D.C. Council have repeatedly noted that violent crime was at a 30-year low before the federal intervention took place.
Mr. Trump has praised Ms. Bowser for her assistance during the surge period. He’s floated using the same tactics to drive down crime in Baltimore and Chicago.
The president has significantly less influence over how those cities operate since they are not federally controlled like the District.
