Police Plead for Higher Starting Salaries

The chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, William Bratton, and the former president of a successful investment bank were among an eclectic collection of advocates urging a state arbitration board this week in Albany to raise the salaries for police officers.

As the hearings, in which the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association pleaded their case for substantially higher salaries, entered a fourth day yesterday, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly blamed low starting salaries for the department's recruitment problem.

"I consider it the biggest public safety issue that we face in this city," Mr. Kelly said. "To borrow a term from the military, we need more boots on the ground."