CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Facing more competition from nearby communities and recruitment challenges, the Clarksville Police Department is increasing entry-level pay for officers from $47,480 to $57,712.

There’s a rising police officer deficit in Clarksville, and in many cases it’s related to pay being higher at nearby agencies, Police Chief Ty Burdine said while presenting his plan at the March 18 Public Safety Committee meeting.

Officers have left Clarksville for better pay

Since 2025, 46 officers have left CPD. This includes those who have retired from service, however, 28 of those officers have resigned for other opportunities. Burdine said that for equipment alone, this cost the department $301,000, not factoring in academy and training costs. The cost per cadet is equivalent to $10,795 in uniform and training academy costs.

Burdine compared CPD patrol officer starting salary to what’s offered by several other agencies, including Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Metro Nashville, Hendersonville and Tennessee Highway Patrol, all in commuting distance of Clarksville, and he said Clarksville isn’t keeping up in pay. “These people live in our city, and can still drive to these places to work. It used to not be the case: You used to have to live within the city,” Burdine said.

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He highlighted a 14% decrease in applications in recent years. “I think the past four years, we have just been outpaced.”

The result has created stress on CPD response times. Burdine said CPD has to have a minimum number of officers on each shift. “We have to have people be able to answer calls and not have the wait times be like 10 minutes,” he said.

How officer pay increase will work

The pay change takes effect April 6. “This would not be across the entire department; this is mainly focusing on P1, P2 and P3s, which are patrol officers and detectives,” Burdine said.

Officers who are currently in pay classifications P1 through sergeant who are below the new minimum pay will receive an immediate salary increase, city spokesman Jimmy Settle told Clarksville Now.

Where money will come from, and what’s next

“Because the change requires no new money this budget year, the approval comes from the mayor after receiving a favorable recommendation from our Chief Financial Officer and Human Resources Director,” Settle said. However, “Sustaining the pay improvements will put pressure on the fiscal year 2027 budget.”

Burdine said his goal is to address the problem to keep up with Clarksville’s growth.

“Our goal has always been to be a 2.2 (officers) per 1,000 citizens of our city. We are currently at 1.95 per every 1,000 citizens. We are about 47 officers short. Just adding 47 officers would get us to 2.2 per every 1,000 citizens,” Burdine said. “We’re hoping to change that in 2026, and that’s our goal.”

For information on joining CPD, visit the Clarksville Police Department officer recruiting website.

Chris Smith contributed to this report.

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