As Vancouver police officers are poised to ratify a new collective agreement, it’s expected the new deal will impact other police contracts in the province and across the country.
The tentative deal between the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Police Union will give a first-class officer about $122,000 a year, making them the highest-paid in Canada.
Benefits are also improving for extended health, psychological services, fertility coverage and parental leave.
“Whether it’s to give them the best benefits in the country along with the number one pay in the country, is very important for us not only to recruit the best for Vancouver but to retain the best for Vancouver,” VPD Deputy Chief Steve Rai told Global News.
VPD’s tentative collective agreement could also impact the RCMP, former B.C. solicitor general Kash Heed said.
“Given the fact that Vancouver has a substantial increase in what they’re going to pay their officers in benefits it’s going to attract the people that may have gone to the RCMP over to Vancouver,” he said.
“Vancouver is going to have the cream of the crop that want to enter the policing profession.”
Results of the ratification vote are expected to be public December 8.
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