Police officers who were promoted to higher ranks in September of last year have received their salary increases.
Commissioner of Public Safety Taaga Saite Moliga said a supplementary check run last week paid out the last remaining salary increases for the promoted police officers.
Three police officers confirmed with KHJ News that they have received the pay hikes that were promised with their promotions.
One said, “While the increase is not as high as I was expecting at least it’s something.”
At a Senate hearing last month Commissioner Taaga said a total of 116 police officers would be receiving pay hikes which would be retroactive to October 1st of last year.
The funding for the pay hikes is from salaries of resigned officers and unfilled vacancies, with the total cost of the increases amounting to $358,237.
However an additional $297,016 was needed to cover the higher salaries for the rest of Fiscal Year 2026 with the commissioner indicating that this would be forthcoming via a supplemental budget request.
In order for DPS to stay within its approved FY2026 budget, caps for the pay increases were set at $2000 for Police Officer 1, Police Officer II, and corporal while a cap of $3,000 was set for Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major and Commander.
According to a police salary classification matrix provided by DPS, starting salaries ranged from $19,000 for a Police Officer 1 to $45,000 for a Commander.
