In his first term, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to staunchly support Florida’s law enforcement members by rewarding them with more pay.
Now in 2025, he is still delivering on that promise. This year, Tallahassee lawmakers put forth several measures to increase pay and retain police officers and recruitment bonus programs for cops looking to move to the state.
The 2025-2026 budget includes a 10% increase for entry-level sworn law enforcement officers and a 15% increase for veteran officers with at least 5 years of service.
The state’s Recruitment Bonus Program offers a signing bonus of up to $5,000 for new hires.
DeSantis awards Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Officers $5,000 recruitment bonuses
Last week, Gov. DeSantis was traveling the state and stopped over in Tampa, where he gave 40 law enforcement officers from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office $5,000 checks each, all from the Recruitment Bonus Program.
The governor’s office announced that around 715 bonus checks have been mailed to police officers throughout the state.
The governor has also made it a top priority to recruit police officers from other states. Since 2020, around 2,000 individuals have moved from other states to Florida, and DeSantis has applied the $5,000 bonus to those new recruits as well.
Florida Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) member Steve Zona says the bonus recruitment for new officers and those relocating to the state has helped fill the gap when there has been a shortage of police officers. Zona also says the retention and pay increases have also helped, and the morale from law enforcement officers under Governor DeSantis is high, also.
The FOP says around 8,700 bonus checks have been given to police offers since the inception of the bonus program
