Slidell Police Chief talks benefits of approved pay raise

SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — In Slidell, pay raises for the Slidell Police Department were officially approved. It’s something Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal is calling a collective effort.

The department is filled with gratitude after the city council unanimously voted to close a significant gap in salaries.

Fandal says for the last four years they’ve been working to secure the raise, even bringing in a third-party company to do an in-depth pay study, identifying the deficiencies in their pay compared to other police departments.

“We were about 25% lower than the rest of the agencies in benefits and pay on the North Shore, so we went to work and we were able to at least come up to the same amount, or maybe a little bit more,” said Fandal.

A 1.5% annual step increase from years one to 30, increased degree pay and even retirement contributions are just a few approved recommendations going forward.

The chief adds just before the announcement, the department was short 10 officers, however since the news it’s down to four.

“We just signed some papers to hire three new cadets, which will start in July. So as soon as this went out, we started seeing some people want to come to this agency. Even younger officers wanting to come on,” said Fandal.

Explaining this raise was a team effort.

“Working closely with the city council, the citizens helped the administration help. Everybody saw the need to bring the pay and the benefit package up and this allows us to keep working toward helping the other employees of the city,” said Fandal.

Now, with a new building and pay raises coming, Fandal emphasizes what this means from a public safety standpoint.

“The citizens want a safe community and we’re going to give them a say. We’ve been giving them a safe community for the last several years, many years. That we are going to have a fully staffed police department and a new building, exciting times,” said Chief Fandal.

Fandal says the pay raise will go into effect on July 1.

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