Nearly 100 Denver police officers to be laid off

Nearly 100 Denver police officers will be out of work and off the streets. Monday, officers voted 60-40 to keep their contract the same, which means they are keeping their pay raise next year. As a result 91 officers will lose their jobs.

This is a decision forced by the city’s $120 million budget crunch, 7 News reports.

“We do not want to take a pay reduction when we negotiated a contract when the city is still spending millions of dollars on what we consider frivolous dollars,” said Vincent Gavito, president of the Police Protection Association. “So I think that was the message we made (Monday) was that the management of the money needs to be reigned in before we take another pay cut.”

After the votes were counted, the mayor’s office sent out a statement.

“The police union had two choices: forego a raise next year and save officers’ jobs, or keep the raise and we would be left with no choice but to lay off officers,” said Kelly Brough, chief of staff to Mayor John Hickenlooper. “We are surprised and disappointed by the police union’s decision to keep the 4.5 percent raise. We will now begin to identify how the City can minimize the impact on the number of officers on the street given that lay-offs are the remaining option.”

Click here for the 7 News story.