We analyze the salary portions of a multi‐state sample of police interest arbitration awards to determine what decision criteria (e.g., pay comparability, ability to pay, inflation) arbitrators' mention most frequently. Using the results, we construct measures of these criteria and assess their influence on awarded salaries. We find that arbitrated salaries are related to several of the measures and also to the employer and union salary offers. The parties' offers are also influenced by our measures, indicating that unions and employers attempt to strategically position their offers before the arbitrato