Minister of the Interior: Police officers’ pay to rise
Minister of the Interior Andres Anvelt (SDE) wants to increase the police’s payroll fund by 10%, and to reinstate the community police, daily Postimees wrote on Thursday.
Anvelt told the paper in an interview published on Thursday that the reinstatement of the community meant creating about 50 new positions for local constables.
“This means that the administrative reform affects the police as well. In the future, every local government will have at least, I’d like to stress, at least one local constable,” Anvelt said.
According to the minister, at the moment every local constable works in three to four municipalities. In the future, the minimum will be one per municipality, more than that in larger places.
The local constables of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) are responsible for public complaints and events in their designated areas. In the course of a cost-cutting program, the Ministry of the Interior under the previous government laid off dozens of officers, which led to ongoing complaints about the police’s availability, particularly in the country’s more remote regions.
Anvelt said that a pay raise for police officers and rescue professionals wasn’t part of the coalition agreement, but that it was his job as minister to fight for better pay for the officers in the next round of budget negotiations.
“Raising salaries is certainly one of my priorities as minister. Our current challenge is to create a better motivational package for constables as well as for the quick response force. Yes, the police’s payroll fund needs to be increased by 10% over the next years. We’re talking about a €10-11m increase,” Anvelt said.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn