Flint Michigan Police Chief: Staffing Improving, but Better Pay Still Needed

FLINT, MI — Police Chief Terence Green says he’s pushing for higher wages to attract and retain Flint police officers but the department is making progress filling budgeted positions with what it has to offer.

Appearing at a City Council hearing on his budget on Wednesday, April 2, Green said the number of unfilled certified officer positions has shrunk to six after four recent hirings.

Mayor Sheldon Neeley’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 leaves the number of sworn police officers at 116 and increases civilian positions by six. It calls for increasing the number of part-time officers from 12 to 16.

“All these programs and all these initiatives can’t be done without personnel,” Green told council members in the first hearing for individual departments covered by the newly proposed budget.

“Staffing is directly related to morale,” he said. “Now that we are hiring more officers, officers are getting more days off” and less mandatory overtime.

Neeley told the council when he delivered his budget plan last week that the city has been able to “enhance the level of service and also provide (officers) a better wage.”

But Green said on Wednesday that he’s supporting even higher pay for officers during current negotiations with the Flint Police Officers Association,

The current contract covering Flint officers is set to expire June 30.

Chief Financial Officer Phillip Moore declined to say how much the city has planned for raises as contract negotiations continue.

Several council members said higher wages and more police are needed.

“University of Michigan is picking off our police officers because they start at $28.92 (hourly) and they top out at $43.20,” said 6th Ward Councilwoman Tonya Burns.

Flint pays an entry-level hourly wage of $20.92 and the scale tops out at $30.71 per hour after a 2% increase approved as part of a short-term contract with the police union two years ago.

That contract also provided bonuses ranging from $1,500 to $2,500.

“You’re losing good officers ...,” Burns said on Wednesday. “You got to figure out how to keep them here.”

Green said he’s “fighting for higher wages” and is involved in the current contract negotiations.

Through March 30, most categories of crime have decreased in the city this year compared to the first quarter of 2024, according to Flint’s internal crime tracking statistics. Homicides have trended higher, with six compared to four during the same time last year.

Green said he’s reactivated a special investigations unit to full staffing as of March 1, easing some of the load on standard patrol officers who too often field too many calls.

The unit’s duties include hot-spot policing, giving patrol officers “a welcome relief,” the chief said.

The department’s criminal investigations bureau has been aided by the hiring of eight part-time investigators who handle investigations “from fraud to felony assaults to home invasions,” Green said.

Several council members said they want to see more results from neighborhood safety officers, who are overseen by the department.

Until recently, Green said, three of the nine budgeted safety officer positions had been vacant.

The officers focus on blight, parking and other violations in Flint.

Neeley’s budget calls for the funding of the 12 positions, with one assigned to each ward and four others able to respond to areas with the highest number of issues.

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