The city of New Orleans, after hearing complaints from the police association about how much money would be paid to out-of-town officers to work Mardi Gras parades, is offering comparable pay to NOPD officers assigned to parade duty, on top of their regular wages, according to NOLA.com.
The city is offering $50 an hour to POST-certified officers from other jurisdictions to help cover parade routes so krewes can restore dozens of blocks that were lopped off out of concerns that NOPD does not have enough officers to manage all routes safely. The pay increases to $75 for Fat Tuesday.
PANO leader Michael Glasser says he believes using cops from other jurisdictions can be effective, but when you end up paying them more than your own cops, "I think you wind up being counterproductive to what you've been trying to do all year with these retention bonuses and all these pay plans and everything to try boost morale and keep officers on board."
NOLA.com reports Chief Administrative officer Gilbert Montaño says NOPD officers will get an extra $26 an hour for parade duty, which, when added to their regular pay, would exceed the $50 an hour being offered to out-of-town police.
Montaño said the extra pay would total between $700,000 and $1 million.