SPOA REBUTTS ARCENEAUX ADMINISTRATION NOV. 24 RESPONSE

Shreveport Police Officers Association
by Michael E. Carter, Ph.D.

We as a city should be thankful that the administration can stop their daily routine to respond to open letters. If only they could filter the brown manganese out of our drinking water as quickly and efficiently as they insult career employees, we could be impressed. The insult did not start today. Each time the Shreveport Police Officers Association has raised the red flag of
Officer attrition, we receive the high achievements of a failing administration that discusses everything except the actual problem. Police Officers are leaving the Shreveport Police Department faster than we can hire them. That is the problem, and it is the direct failure of this current administration. They refuse to make any realistic strides towards the regional average police salary. Most of the current city council has joined the rhetoric. To state the obvious fact that all city employees deserve a raise is very pompous, especially when this administration had no intention of giving raises at all. None. Not one council member refuted that statement in the
media.

Clearly those of us that seek higher learning and apply deductive reasoning will have to re-read the last press release. It would appear interpretation of a pay request is their shortcoming. But that is not the first time for this group. We explained thoroughly in our letter to this editor that we are a law enforcement labor organization. We represent our members. We expect other unions to represent their members. What is painted as a slight to other city workers is misconstrued. We respectfully do not assume to know the needs of a Fire Fighter, a water employee, etc. We send our very best and offer our solidarity for anything they can obtain through their representation. It would appear the bad guy to city hall is the one who makes a request.

This miscomprehended view comes from none other than the very person that announced to the media only short days ago that there would be no pay raises in 2026. Now, they are “johnny on the spot” and they are the only people that allegedly understand the issue.

The blatant truth is simple. If they understood the issue of police retention, the pay increase would have occurred January 1, 2024, instead of taking the recurring salary funding for the unfilled positions. Here we are two years later as we enter an election year, and dare we think the obvious, you never intended to fill the 150 plus vacant positions. Because they did not. That is not just an opinion, we are currently more than 150 Officers short. The reason for that can be found at 505 Travis Street.

Deliberate and willful neglect to fund competitive police salaries at the Shreveport Police Department falls directly on this administration. There will be consequences. Assuming the citizens cannot see and understand that the shortage of Officers, and the crime rate, are not independent of one another, is a simple-minded approach. We appreciate uniform allowance increases since it is nearly impossible to purchase the uniform required for work at the current
allotment. However, that uniform is not what an Officers uses for school tuition, groceries, or their spouse’s car payment. With the 3% base pay raise and doubling the clothing allowance, most Officers would be wise to keep their extra duty jobs, put off going back to attend a night class, and tell their spouse there will be no opportunity to qualify for a different home in 2026.

With minimum ability to obtain time off due to chronic minimum staffing, there is little incentive to continue the grind. The attempt to antagonize one set of city employees against another, with this low-grade political spin, is insulting to the people that serve this city.

Remember the press release? There were NO employee pay raises in 2026. Now, they are
getting 3%.

Unless this administration is admitting to disclosing false information to the media, we at SPOA would like to take credit for throwing the stone at Goliath. Then again, we are very accustomed to being the neglected over here at the cop shop. When we read there would be no raises, we placed a request on the record. It is much like kicking in a door, knowing a very bad danger waits on the other side. The city council intended to ignore our pay request by majority, until one actual businessman read it, compared it to emergency meetings, facts, and undeniable violence in the streets. He was attacked because of our request, and again we point out, he is not to blame. Police employees are the people that this administration, and council, refuse to
fund. We will not have an adequate police force in this city until competitive salaries are made a priority. It is time to call the mayor, and your elected city council member. It is time for the citizens to be heard. We are less than 24-hours past two more shootings, separate from the previous named violence. You do not have to accept the negligence and disrespect towards the employees that serve you. Please consider reminding those elected leaders that they are public servants.

We will never speak against a pay raise for other employees, we never have. But we do expect them to do their own pay requests. Perhaps, we should all expect the city’s CAO, whom we pay 200,000.00 per year, to complete all pay analyses. We will represent our members during every budget cycle, even though we expect this type of insolence from city hall.

Dr. Michael E. Carter is a 29-year veteran of the Shreveport Police Department and a 25-year elected SPOA President with a graduate education in Organizational Psychology.