NEWBURGH – The 65 police officers and detectives in the Newburgh City Police Department have voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 445.

“It’s a tough city, and the police need a tough union,” said Michael Pitt, president of the Newburgh PBA.

Teamsters Local 445 Principal Officer Adrian Huff said the union would lead negotiations for a new contract for the police as well as represent them on the job. The current contract with the city expires on December 31, 2012.

Saying Newburgh cops are among the lowest paid police in the Hudson Valley, Huff said they have seen their pay increase less than one-half percent over the past 10 years.

Huff said there are nights when there are only two officers on duty for the entire shift. “The residents and the police themselves need and serve better,” he said.

Huff said turnover is high was the city serves as a training ground for other local departments.

Teamsters Local 445, headquartered in Rock Tavern, also represents police in Walden, the Village and Town of Chester, Greenwood Lake, the villages of Goshen and Harriman, and the Town of Mount Hope.  It also represents the almost 600 nurses and case managers at St. Luke’s Cornwall hospital.