Temple University will raise the salaries of its police force under a new contract that aims to address the recruitment and retention of officers. The five-year contract announced Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, was ratified in June and runs through June 30, 2031. Under the new contract, which comes a y ear earlier than the previous agreement expired, an officer with at least three years of experience will start at a salary of $92,000. Officers with five years of experience will have a starting salary of $100,000. Those entering the police academy will start at $68,000. Temple University Police Association president Andrew Lanetti said Thursday the increases were significant, with the new pay scale aligning more closely with the Philadelphia Police Department. “Our top out, prior to this current collective bargaining agreement was at 10 years, you were at $90,000 and some change,” Lanetti said. “In this immediate first year, that same officer who was at 10 years of experience is now making $105,000. There’s been another top out added at a 15-year set point of experience, which is $107,000 base.” The new contract follows a study released in December which found the school, which has an enrollment size of about 30,000 students, needed to increase the number of police officers: “They came back and recommended approximately 30 additional people beyond what we had right now in terms of patrol officers. In addition, some additional detectives and supervisory,” Temple University president John Fry told NBC 10 on Thursday. The university has made a five-year commitment to reach that figure, Fry said. “Honestly, the first step towards doing that is to have a more competitive total compensation package,” he added. The university currently has 79 police officers on staff. Three more are expected to start in September, according to Interim Vice President for Public Safety Denise Wilhelm. “We have people in the police academy that are going to graduate in October. We have folks we’re backloading ready to start the academy in October,” Wilhelm said. “When you have more numbers, you’re able to more effectively deploy. You’re more effectively able to do prevention. Prevention is more than patrolling and policing. Prevention is education. Prevention is more collaboration in the community. We’re not just the Temple police department. We’re a part of this community, and we take pride in that.” Dispatchers and security officers also received pay raises through the new contract, according to university officials. The contract includes paid parental leave, increased vacation entitlement after 15.5 years of service, field training officer pay, and hazard pay for declared states of emergency. ...read more read less