In his first term, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to stubbornly support Florida law enforcement members by rewarding Florida law enforcement members with more salaries.
Now, in 2025, he still offers that promise. This year, Tallahassee lawmakers announced several measures to increase the salaries of officers who want to move to the state and maintain their police officers and recruitment bonus programs.
The 2025-2026 budget includes a 10% increase in entry-level sworn law enforcement officers and a 15% increase in veteran officers with at least five years of service.
The state’s recruitment bonus program offers signature bonuses of up to $5,000 for new recruits.
Desantis awards Hillsborough County Sheriff officers a $5,000 recruitment bonus
Last week, Gov. DeSantis traveled the state to stop in Tampa, where he gave 40 law enforcement officers a $5,000 check from the recruitment bonus program.
The governor’s office announced that around 715 bonus checks have been mailed to police officers across the state.
The governor also makes recruiting police officers from other states a top priority. Since 2020, around 2,000 individuals have moved from other states to Florida, and Desantis has also applied a $5,000 bonus to these new employees.
Steve Zona, a member of Florida’s Brothers Police Department (FOP), says the recruitment of bonuses for police officers and bonuses for immigrants to the state helped fill the gap in the event of a shortage of police officers. Zona also helps with retention and wage increases, and says it has high morale from law enforcement officers under Governor DeSantis.
According to FOP, since the start of the bonus program, police offers have been awarded around 8,700 bonus checks
