An Act to adjust the salaries of officers and members of the Metropolitan Police force, the United States Park Police, the White House Police, and the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.
PL 83-74 (H.R.3795), enacted 06/20/1953

72 
PUBLIC LAW 74-JUNE 20, 1953 
L67 
S T A T . 
Citation of title. 
master General, for expenses of attendance at meetings of technical, 
scientific, professional, or other similar organizations concerned with 
the function or activity for which the appropriation concerned is 
made. 
SEC. 205. This title may be cited as the "Post Office Department 
Appropriation Act, 1954". 
TITLE III—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Strikes or over-
t h r o w of Govern-
ment. 
Affidavit. 
Penalty. 
Short title. 
SEC. 301. No part of any appropriation contained in this Act shall 
be used to pay the salary or wages of any person who engages in a 
strike against the Government of the United States or who is a mem-
ber of an organization of Government employees that asserts the right 
to strike against the Government of the United States, or who advo-
cates, or is a member of an organization that advocates, the over-
throw of the Government of the United States by force or violence: 
Provided, That for the purposes hereof an affidavit shall be considered 
prima facie evidence that the person making the affidavit has not 
contrary to the provisions of this section engaged in a strike against 
the Government of the United States, is not a member of an organ-
ization of Government employees that asserts the right to strike 
against the Government of the United States, or that such person does 
not advocate, and is not a member of an organization that advocates, 
the overthrow of the Government of the United States by force or 
violence: Provided further, That any person who engages in a strike 
against the Government of the United States or who is a member of 
an organization of Government employees that asserts the right to 
strike against the Government of the United States, or who advocates, 
or who IS a member of an organization that advocates, the overthrow 
of the Government of the United States by force or violence and 
accepts employment the salary or wages for which are paid from any 
appropriation or fund contained in this Act shall be guilty of a felony 
and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned 
for not more than one year, or both: Provided fv/rther, That the above 
penalty clause shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, any 
other provisions of existing law. 
SEC. 302. This Act mav be cited as the "Treasury and Post Office 
Departments Appropriation Act, 1954". 
Approved June 18, 1953. 
, , 
. 
June 20, 1953 
[H. R. 3795] 
Public Law 74 
CHAPTER 146 
AN ACT 
To adjust the salaries of officers and members of tlie Metropolitan Police force, 
the United States Park Police, the White House Police, and the Fire Depart-
ment of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
lumbfa^Poiice ^ 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
Firemen's Salary be cited as the "District of Columbia Police and Firemen's Salary 
Act of 1953. 
^^.^ Qf i953»^ 
TITLE I—METROPOLITAN POLICE FORCE 
B a s i c salaries. 
O f f i c e r s 
a n d 
members. 
SEC. 101. (a) Except as provided in subsections (b) or (c), the 
annual basic salaries of the officers and members of the Metropolitan 
Police force shall be at the rates set forth in the following table: 
67 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 74-JUNE 20, 1953 
73 
Chief of police 
$12, 500 
Deputy chiefs 
8,459 
Inspectors 
7,753 
Captains 
6,590 
Lieutenants 
6,009 
Sergeants 
5, 521 
Corporals 
5,090 
Private, class 4 (three or more years' service) 
4,641 
Private, class 3 (two or more but less than three years' 
service) 
4,378 
Private, class 2 (one or more but less than two years' service) _ 
4,115 
Private, class 1 (less than one year's service) 
3, 900 
All original appointments of privates shall be made at the annual basic 
salary of $3,900 and the first year of service shall be probationary. 
(b) The annual basic salary of a private of any class of the force 
shall be increased by— 
(1) $1,200, while he is assigned to duty as a detective sergeant; 
(2) $465, while he is assigned to duty as a precinct detective; 
(3) $300, while he is assigned to duty as a station clerk; 
(4) $270, while he is assigned to duty as a probational detec-
tive; or 
(5) $390, while he is assigned to duty as a motorcycle officer. 
Paragraph (5) of this subsection shall apply to any officer below the 
grade of lieutenant. 
(c) Subject to approval of the Commissioners, the annual basic 
salary of a private of the Metropolitan Police force shall be increased 
by an amount not to exceed $390 while he is assigned to duty as a 
technician. 
SEC. 102. (a) The annual basic salary of each officer and member 
of the Metropolitan Police force in a grade above that of private, class 
3, except the Chief of Police, shall be increased by $120 at the begin-
ning of the next pay period following each five-year period of con-
tinuous service completed in such grade, including service in such 
grade rendered prior to the effective date of this Act: Provided^ That 
in computing service rendered prior to such date by any individual 
in the grade of private, only service in such grade in excess of three 
years shall be creditable in determining such increase or increases for 
anjr individual assigned to the grade of private, class 4, in the fore-
gomg salary table. The annual basic salary of the Chief of Police 
shall be increased by $200 at the beginning of the next pay period 
following each eighteen-month period of continuous service completed 
in such grade including service in such grade rendered prior to the 
effective date of this Act. 
For the purpose of this subsection, service 
vShall not be deemed to have been discontinued by reason of any assign-
ment (with an accompanying increase in basic salary) pursuant to 
subsection (b) or subsection (c) of section 101 of this Act. An increase 
in basic salary under this subsectior shall be known as a "longevity 
increase". 
(b) Any officer or member who is promoted to a position in a 
higher grade in the foregoing salary table who is receiving one or more 
longevity increases under subsection (a) of this section, and whose 
basic salary, as increased by such longevity increases, exceeds the 
scheduled rate for such higher grade, shall, upon promotion, be entitled 
to the basic salary of such higher grade plus so many equivalent longev-
ity increases as may be necessary to make his salary in such higher 
grade at least equal the salary he received before promotion, including 
longevity increases. 
Privates. 
5-year contin-
uous 8 e r V i c e in-
crease. 
Promotions. 
m 
PUBLIC LAW 74-JUNE 20, 1953 
[67 S T A T . 
L o n g e v i t y In-
creases. 
Rating requir ( 
ment. 
Demotions. 
^g) Whenever any officer or member is demoted from any grade to 
a lower grade and such officer or member prior to such demotion was 
receiving one or more longevity increases, the Commissioners, in their 
discretion, may in demoting such officer or member fix his annual basic 
salary so as to exclude all such earned longevity increases or to include 
one or more of such earned longevity increases. 
(d) The Chief of Police shall receive no more than four longevity 
increases and no other officer or member shall receive more than five 
longevity increases with respect to service rendered in any one grade. 
(e) No officer or member shall be entitled to a longevity increase 
for a five-year period of service unless he has maintained a rating of 
satisfactory or better for such period. 
TITLE II—FIRE DEPARTMENT OF T H E DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA 
Of f i
^
^
c el^r^lnd 
^^^' ^^^' (*) Except as provided in subsection (b) the annual basic 
members. 
Salaries of the officers and members of the Fire Department of the 
District of Columbia shall be at the rates set forth in the following 
table: 
•; : -::.- 
- i ' U , - '_.' s - . . . , - , - - - 
•:.,' .;.';,,.,•, 
-
Fire chief 
. 
$12,500 
Deputy fire chief s 
8,459 
Superintendent of machinery 
8,459 
Fire marshal 
8,459 
Battalion fire chiefs 
7,753 
Assistant superintendent of machinery 
7,753 
Deputy fire marshal 
7,753 
Captains 
6, 590 
n 
Pilots 
6,328 
Marine engineers 
6,328 
Lieutenants 
6, 009 
Sergeants 
5, 521 
Assistant pilots 
5,038 
Assistant marine engineers 
5, 038 
Inspectors 
4,813 
Private, class 4 (three or more years' service) 
4, 641 
Private, class 3 (two or more but less than three years' service) 
4,378 
Private, class 2 (one or more but less than two years' service) _ 
4,115 
Private, class 1 (less than one year's service) 
3,900 
Privates. 
AH original appointments of privates shall be made at the annual 
basic salary of $3,900 and the first year of service shall be probationary, 
(b) Subject to approval of the Commissioners, the annual basic 
salary of a private or an inspector of the Fire Department of the 
District of Columbia shall be increased by an amount not to exceed 
$390 while he is assigned to duty as a technician. 
5-year contin- 
SEC. 202. (a) The annual basic salary of each officer and member 
crease.**"'^*'* ^
*
*
" of the Fire Department in a grade above that of private, class 3, except 
the Fire Chief, shall be increased by $120 at the beginning of the 
next pay period following each five-year period of continuous service 
completed in such grade, including service in such grade rendered prior 
to the effective date of this Act: Provided, That in computing service 
rendered prior to such date by any individual in the grade of private, 
only service in such grade in excess of three years shall be creditable 
in determining such increase or increases for any individual assigned 
to the grade of private, class 4, in the foregoing salary table. For the 
purpose of this subsection, service shall not be deemed to have been 
discontinued by reason of any assignment (with an accompanying 
67 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 74-JUNE 20, 1953 
increase in salary) pursuant to subsection (b) of section 201 of this 
Act. The annual basic salary of the Fire Chief shall be increased by 
$200 at the beginning of the next pay period following each eighteen-
month period of continuous service completed in such grade including 
service in such grade rendered prior to the effective date of this Act. 
An increase in basic salary under this subsection shall be known as a 
"longevity increase". 
(b) Any officer or member who is promoted to a position in a higher 
grade in the foregoing salary table who is receiving one or more lon-
gevity increases under subsection (a) of this section, and whose basic 
salary, as increased by such longevity increases, exceeds the scheduled 
rate for such higher grade, shall, upon promotion, be entitled to the 
basic salary of such higher grade plus so many equivalent longevity 
increases as may be necessary to make his salary in such higher grade 
at least equal the salary he received before promotion, including lon-
gevity increases. 
(c) Whenever any officer or member is demoted from any grade 
to a lower grade and such officer or member prior to such demotion was 
receiving one or more longevity increases, the Commissioners, in their 
discretion, may in demoting such officer or member fix his annual 
basic salary so as to exclude all such earned longevity increases or to 
include one or more of such earned longevity increases. 
(d) The Fire Chief shall receive no more than four longevity in-
creases and no other officer or member shall receive more than five 
longevity increases with respect to service rendered in any one grade. 
(e) No officer or membe? shall be entitled to a longevity increase for 
a five-year period of service unless he has maintained a rating of 
satisfactory or better for such period. 
Promotions. 
Demotions. 
L o n g e v i t y inr 
creases. 
Rating require-
ment. 
TITLE III—AUTOMATIC EQUALIZATION OF PENSIONS 
SEC. 301. Notwithstanding section 6 of the Act entitled "An Act 
to fix the salaries of officers and members of the Metropolitan Police 
Force and Fire Department of the District of Columbia", approved 
Julv 1,1930 (46 Stat. 841, ch. 783, D. C. Code, 1951 edition, sec. 4-505), 
each individual heretofore or hereafter retired from active service 
and entitled to receive a pension relief allowance or retirement 
compensation under the provisions of section 12 of the Act entitled 
"An Act making appropriations to provide for the expenses of the 
government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes", 
approved September 1, 1916 (39 Stat. 676), as amended, shall be 
entitled to receive, without making application therefor, with respect 
to each increase in salary granted by this Act, or hereafter granted by 
law to which such individual would be entitled if he were in active 
service, an increase in his pension relief allowance or retirement 
compensation. 
Such increase shall be in an amount which bears the 
same ratio to such increase in salary as the amount of each such 
individual's pension relief allowance or retirement compensation in 
effect on the day next preceding such salary increase bore to the 
salary to which he would have been entitled had he been in active 
service on the day next preceding such salary increase. Each increase 
in pension relief allowance or retirement compensation under this 
title resulting from an increase in salary shall take effect as of the 
first day of the first month following the effective date of such increase 
in salary. 
SEC. 302. In computing the pension relief allowance or retirement 
compensation of anv such individual retired before the effective date 
of this Act as Major and Superintendent of Police, Assistant 
Pension r e l i e f 
allowance or r e-
tire ment c o m p en-
sation. 
bicrease. 
39 Stat. 718. 
D. C. Code 4-113 
to 4-597, passim. 
Effective date. 
Certain retired 
officers. 
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PUBLIC LAW 74-JUNE 20, 1953 
[67 S T AT* 
Superintendent of Police, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, 
Deputy Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, or Battalion Chief 
Engineer of the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, such 
person shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to have retired 
as Chief of Police, Deputy Chief of Police, Fire Chief, Deputy Fire 
Chief, or Battalion Fire Chief, respectively. 
TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
u. s. 
lice. 
Park Po-
Whlte House Po-
lice. 
62 Stat. 680. 
Police. 
Five-day week. 
65 Stat. 27. 
D.C. Code 4-904. 
Repeals. 
43 Stat. 174. 
D. C. C o d e 4-
180, 4-201, 4-410, 
4-203. 
46 Stat. 839. 
58 Stat. 217; 59 
Stat. 318. 
D.C. Code 4-405. 
59 Stat. 470. 
D. C. 
C o d e 
803 to 4-805. 
59 Stat. 662. 
60 Stat. 261. 
60 Stat. 480. 
D.C. Code 4-803. 
63 Stat. 376. 
D. C. C o d e 4-
108, 4-806. 
65Stat. 607, 636. 
D. C. C o d e 4-
810, 4-806, 4-811. 
P ay c omputat ion. 
Pomt, p. 182. 
B a s i c 
a n n u a l 
rates. 
Conversion. 
SEC. 401. The annual basic salaries of officers and members of the 
United States Park Police shall be the same as the annual basic 
salaries (including longevity increases under section 102 of this Act) 
provided for officers and members of the Metropolitan Police force 
in corresponding or similar grades. 
SEC. 402. Section 204 (b) of title 3 of the United States Code (relat-
ing to the salaries of the White House Police) is amended by inserting 
after "Metropolitan Police force" the following: "(including lon-
gevity increases provided by section 102 of the District of Columbia 
Police and Firemen's Salary Act of 1953)". 
SEC. 403. The second sentence of subsection (e) of the first section of 
the Act approved August 15, 1950, as amended by the Act approved 
March 27,1951 (Public Law 13, Eighty-second Congress) is amended 
by striking therefrom "(one three-hundred-and-sixtieth of his annual 
basic salary)". 
SEC. 404. (a) The following laws and parts of laws are hereby 
repealed: 
(1) The first three sections and section 5 of the Act of May 27, 
1924, as amended (Public Law 148, Sixty-eighth Congress); 
(2) The first three sections of the Act of July 1,1930, as amended 
(D. C. Code, sees. 4-108,4-405,4r-801); 
(3) Act of May 5, 1944 (Public Law 297. Seventy-eighth 
Congress); 
(4) Act of July 3, 1945 (Public Law 122, Seventy-ninth 
Congress); 
(5) Act of July 14,1945, as amended (Public Law 151, Seventy-
ninth Congress); 
(6) Act of December 28,1945 (Public Law 278, Seventy-ninth 
Congress); 
(7) Act of June 19, 1946 (Public Law 417, Seventy-ninth 
Congress); 
(8) Act of July 5, 1946 (Public Law 491, Seventy-ninth 
Congress); 
(9) First two sections of the Act of June 30,1949 (Public Law 
151, Eighty-first Congress) ; 
(10) Section 4 of the Act of October 24,1951 (Public Law 195, 
Eighty-second Congress); and 
(11) Subsection (a) of the first section of the Act of October 
25, 1951 (Public Law 207, Eighty-second Congress^. 
(b) All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with this Act are hereby 
repealed to the extent of such inconsistency. 
SEC. 405. (a) For all pay computation purposes affecting employees 
covered by this Act, basic per annum rates of compensation established 
by this Act shall be regarded as payment for employment during 
fifty-two basic administrative workweeks. 
(b) Whenever for any such purpose it is necessary to convert a 
basic annual rate established by this Act to a basic biweekly, weekly, 
or daily rate, the following rules shall govern: 
(A) An annual rate shall be divided by fifty-two or twenty-six 
as the case may be, to derive a weekly or biweekly rate; or 
67 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 76-JUNE 24, 1953 
77 
(B) A weekly or biweekly rate shall be divided by five or ten, 
as the case may be, to derive a daily rate. 
All rates shall be computed to the nearest cent, counting one-half cent 
and over as a whole cent. 
(c) For all officers and employees referred to in this Act, each pay 
period shall cover two administrative workweeks. 
SEC. 406. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby 
authorized to promulgate such regulations as may be necessary for the 
administration of this Act. 
SEC. 407. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1953. 
Approved June 20, 1953. 
Pay period. 
Regulations. 
Effective date. 
Public Law 75 
CHAPTER 147 
AN ACT 
Authorizing tlie appropriation of funds to provide for the prosecution of projects 
in the Columbia River Basin for flood control and other purposes. 
June 22, 1953 
[H. R. 4025] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph 
(b) under the title "Columbia River Basin" in section 204 of the 
Flood Control Act, approved May 17,1950, is hereby amended by strik-
ing out "$75,000,000" and substituting in lieu thereof "$150,000,000". 
Approved June 22, 1953. 
64 Stat. 179. 
Public Law 76 
CHAPTER 149 
-^N ^^'^ 
June 24, 1953 
To provide for the treatment of users of narcotics in the District of Columbia. 
[H. R. 3307] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the purpose 
of this Act is to protect the health and safety of the people of the Dis-
trict of Columbia from the menace of drug addiction and to afford an 
opportunity to the drug user for rehabilitation. 
The Congress 
intends that Federal criminal laws shall be enforced against drug 
users as well as other persons, and this Act shall not be used to sub-
stitute treatment for punishment in cases of crime committed by drug 
users. 
DEFINITIONS 
SEC. 2, For the purposes of this Act— 
(1) The term "drug user" means any person who habitually uses 
any habit-forming narcotic drugs so as to endanger the public morals, 
health, safety, or welfare, or who is so far addicted to the use of such 
habit-forming narcotic drugs as to have lost the power of self-control 
with reference to his addiction. 
(2) The term "patient" means a person with respect to whom there 
has been filed with the clerk of the United States District Court for 
the District of Columbia a statement as provided for in section 3. 
FILING A STATEMENT 
SEC. 3. (a) Whenever it appears to the United States attorney for 
the District of Columbia that any person within the District of 
Columbia, other than a person referred to in subsection (b), is a drug 
user, he may file with the clerk of the United States District Court 
Narcotics. 
T r e a t m e n t of 
users in D. C. 
27000 O - 53 - 8