BENEFITS & COMPENSATION

Employee Representation
Lincoln Police officers are represented by the Lincoln Police Union.

Uniforms and Equipment
Provided at no cost to the employee.

Salary
The current officer pay range is from $74,568/year up to $105,414/year. In addition, employees are paid at the rate of time and one-half for all overtime hours. A minimum of two hours of overtime is provided when an employee is called in off-duty, unless it is a regular day off or a vacation day, then a minimum of four hours of overtime pay is granted.

Lateral Entry
On the recommendation of the chief of police, applicants with more than one (1) year of continuous, full time law enforcement experience may be approved to begin employment at a higher pay grade. This recommendation will be based on the applicant’s years of experience as a certified law enforcement officer, the applicant’s current base salary and the state which has issued the applicant’s law enforcement certification.

Education Incentives  

In-state college tuition waivers, covering 100% of tuition, are available for officers and their dependents.

Southeast Community College offers LPD academy graduates up to 30 credit hours toward an Associate of Applied Science degree in Criminal Justice.

An employee will receive $300 for an associate’s degree and $750 for a bachelor’s degree annually. An employee may also be reimbursed up to $1,300 for approved college courses per calendar year.

Bilingual Pay
If an officer is able to demonstrate proficiency to interpret conversations in other eligible languages, they may receive bilingual pay of $100 per month.

Longevity Pay
An employee will receive an additional 2% of their salary annually beginning with the fifth year of service. This longevity pay will increase at the completion of 10, 15, 20, and 25 years of service with the top end longevity pay at 7% of their salary annually.

Uniform Cleaning
Officers receive $55/month allowance for the cleaning of uniforms.

Body Armor
Officers are reimbursed up to $800 for the purchase of protective body armor once every five years. The body armor is the property of the individual officer after one year of service.

Vacation
At the date of commission, officers earn a vacation leave credit annually of 88 hours per year. After five years, it increases to 128 hours per year. After ten years, 144 hours per year. After 15 years, 168 hours per year. After 20 years, 200 hours per year. After 25 years, 208 hours per year.

Holidays
Officers may be paid for eight holidays each year, or they may elect to accumulate up to 82 hours in a holiday bank. This time may then be taken as time off during the year. The city will provide 42 additional non-cumulative personal holiday hours each fiscal year.

Compensatory Time Bank
In lieu of payment for overtime hours worked, officers may request to take compensatory time. If request is approved, one and one-half (1 ½) hours of compensatory time shall be credited for each overtime hour worked not to exceed a total of eighty (80) hours in their time bank.

Sick Leave
Officers earn eight hours of sick leave for each full month of service. The accrual of unused sick leave is unlimited.

Paid Parental Leave
Employees are eligible to receive up to six weeks or 240 hours of paid parental leave following the birth of the employee’s child or the start of placement for adoption or foster care.

Pension 
The pension plan provides a 64% retirement benefit at age 50 and 25 years of service, for an 8% contribution rate. A Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) is also offered to allow officers to accumulate additional savings while continuing employment.

Health Care and Insurance

Health. The City contributes 92% of the monthly cost of coverage and the officers contribute 8% for single coverage. For the officer plus child(ren), officer plus spouse or family coverage, the City contributes 85% and the officer contributes 15% of the monthly coverage. Coverage starts immediately upon hire.

Dental. The City contributes 100% of the monthly cost of coverage for single coverage. For officer plus child(ren), officer plus spouse or family coverage, the City contributes 66% of the monthly cost of coverage and the officer contributes 34% of the monthly cost of coverage.

Vision. The City also offers vision insurance. The insurance currently costs less than $10 for single, less than $20 for officer plus child(ren) or officer plus spouse and less than $30 for family.

The City shall provide each regular employee a $75,000 life insurance policy. Optional family coverage is available at a reduced cost. If an officer elects family coverage, they may select health insurance from the city group health plan.

The City of Lincoln is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer who is committed to recruit, hire, promote or transfer employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin, age (40-70), marital status, receipt of public assistance, or political affiliation, except that no person shall be employed who advocates or belongs to a group which advocates the violent overthrow of our government.
These benefits are currently provided and are subject to change due to collective bargaining sessions between the Lincoln Police Union and the City.