State police see 23 percent raise, biggest in Nevada history

Retaining highway patrol troopers and other state police officers may be easier now as Nevada State Police just got a 23 percent pay increase, the agency’s highest single salary bump in state history, a police union official said.

The pay hike, which took effect Saturday, has already paid dividends based on a recent surge in new recruits applying to join the Nevada Highway Patrol, the largest agency within the state police, according to Dan Gordon, president of the Nevada Police Union.

As far as retaining state highway patrol troopers — who have been quitting in droves for higher paying police positions since 2018 — Gordon said, while it was a bit too early to say, “a lot of people that I’ve talked to say this has helped their decision to stay.”

“Most people here like their job,” he said. “They aren’t leaving because they hate their jobs, they’re leaving because obviously financially it’s a huge pay raise to go to another agency.”

The 23 percent growth in salary this year comes from AB 522, legislation enacted in May by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Joe Lombardo. It’s the highest raise for state police in Nevada history, boosting starting yearly pay for a new trooper to about $60,000, he said.

In 2022, the starting salary was between $46,666 and $53,598, according to the union.

The last time state police pay went up considerably was in the early 2000s, when it rose about 16 to 17 percent, but since then, the pay gap between state police and their counterparts in other law enforcement jurisdictions in Southern Nevada has widened, Gordon said.

“Now, 23 percent, that’s much closer to parity to a lot of the other agencies in the state,” he said.

Another pay hike on the way

This year’s increase includes what Gordon calls two pay grade bumps, equaling 10 percent, plus another 13 percent added by the new law.

In addition to better pay, as of this year, state troopers and patrol and probation officers will be able to drive state “take home” cars to and from their residences, so if their 10-hour shift is 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., they begin working in their car at 6 a.m. and end their shift back home at 4 p.m., Gordon said.

“You go on duty from your driveway and go off duty from your driveway,” he said.

Further, the annual state allowance for uniforms and equipment for troopers and other officers increased to $1,400, and extra pay increases of 10 percent are in store for troopers in such specialties as motorcycle and K-9 units, he said.

The news gets even better for state police, as the new law provides for them to get another 11 percent pay hike in 2024, or 34 percent over one year, he said.

Last year, the pay situation appeared dire for state police and its union that represents 900 troopers, parole and probation officers, university police, Capitol police, fire marshals, game wardens, park rangers and agricultural officers.

The agency reported a turnover of 135 percent in 2020, after rates of 109 percent in 2019 and 127 percent in 2018 as state cops went on to greener pay pastures with agencies such as the Metropolitan Police, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City police departments and Clark County School District police.

NHP Officer Doug McLarty, a state police recruiter, said now that salaries have improved, with the added incentive of take home cars, he has received inquiries from neighboring police agencies, both in state and in Arizona, about applying for work.

“So, you’re already getting some people who said maybe I’d like to come over because you guys have a nice pay increase and the vehicle option,” he said.

“I think it’s going to help with retention, you know, 100 percent.”

Gordon said that a state police recruitment drive about two weeks ago in Northern Nevada drew nearly 50 prospective applicants, informed about the pending pay bump, “where for the last two plus years, these events have yielded about five or six people.”

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.