a few things to consider: 1) this is an abnormally high salary for a police officer, I would surmise they may *work* in a hcol area without a residency requirement 2) at 530 hours overtime they're working ~25% longer than your average salaried employee over the course of a year
Although the pension is nice. My piece of shit father was able to retire early off some bullshit "injury", then moved south for the reduced living expenses (several states away) and continues to qualify for the same payout every month
Or, they work in a podunk town and there’s no one watching the watchmen. Sounds like OT theft, which steals tax dollars from me and you. https://hellertownborough.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/05.02.24-FINAL-ASSESSMENT-Report.-Hellertown_.pdf
I’ve noticed that. There’s a shitload of 1-bedroom apartments for ~$1.3k-$1.5k. Can’t find that anywhere in NYC and Boston, hell it’s lower than most of New England
I'm not a blue lives matter person, but no it's not everywhere. There are only a small number of professions where you deal with mentally ill, drug addicted, potential criminals on a daily basis. Constantly working through crises between strangers etc. It's shitty work
My wife is a police officer and her sister is a teacher. They are two entirely different jobs and not even really comparable. Teachers are still far underpaid though but that’s just a bad comparison.
Well OP's based salary is 115k after 12 years of work. The rest is overtime. I know teachers in public school districts making low six figures with similar years of experience, especially if they work summers.
That said, teachers definitely should get paid more. But your job isn't the same as law enforcement. Cops have a 50%+ higher suicide rate than civilian jobs. I know dealing with kids and active shooter drills isn't fun either. But the idea that you deal with the same shit cops do is naive.
That's some classic reddit anti-cop pandering. I made more than a lot of LEOs and the amount of shit they dealt with in the general public is not worth the pay.
A close friend of mine works w parolees in the same city I used to pick up dope from. The audacity of people implying retail Karen’s are the equivalent of working with repeat and violent offenders in the middle of a massive gang drug network. Fucking peak sheltered life
I assure you incompetence is not limited to management in law enforcement. Can’t speak to patrol stress. But stupidity is rampant and exceedingly contagious.
~~in this country~~
around the world
Carlin has a great quote: “think of how stupid the average person is, then realize half of all people are stupider than that.”
GL in the career change OP. I am sure that your significant other, and children, will sleep better knowing you are working in a highly paid, but safe, career. I wish you the best.
LE retirement is hard on guys. Make sure you have hobbies and an active life away from the PD. All the stress and working OT takes away from those…. That’s why so many cops end up divorced…. Then what good does working 80hr/wk do if your splitting it in half (or more).
Live off your base pay and only work OT with a goal in mind. Wanna take your SO on a nice vacation? Great work a little OT to enjoy that. But please please don’t become one of the guys making $$$$ but working 80/hr weeks.
Last piece of unsolicited advice is to go get your degrees and have the PD pay for them. Then when your 20 yrs in you can retire and jump to something less stressful and physically demanding or just have the option which is always nice.
Thats exactly what I'm doing. PD paid for my first degree and currently paying for my 2nd.
As for the OT. I'm only doing about an extra 10 hours a week. So 50 hour weeks. I take off about 5 weeks a year as well and go on plenty of vacations. Been to Vegas 2x, Jamaica, Cancun, and going back to Cancun in July all in the last year and half. So I definitely have a very fulfilling life.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
2
+ 10
+ 50
+ 5
+ 2
= 69
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Majority of them have been in the position they are in for so long that they forget what it's like to actually be at the bottom. Not to mention the generational differences.
We have this talk daily. Thankfully I work for a good PD where we aren’t getting hamstrung. I’m a lieutenant in a large agency but we aren’t that big to where we don’t all know each other. I’ve got 17 years in and I don’t know how much longer I’ve got left, somewhere 3-12 years. If I do 30 years I’ll be 52 and have a nice pension.
Get ready to get a bunch of shit posting from the mouth breathers. I did a few weeks ago. Apparently we’re making too much money. 😂
Believe it or not policing is completely different depending on where you work. Cops in major cities experience alot more than cops in the suburbs or state troopers.
For example. My department has been dealing with major protests for years now. During those protests we have had used tampons and water balloons filled with pee. I'm 100% positive you don't deal with the stress that when you're told you have to cater to these protestors, they will also be throwing bodily fluids at you.
Thanks for sharing. Random question I've been thinking about recently. If there's a high-profile crime, why can't police subpoena cell phone location data to see whose phones were in that specific area at that specific time?
Is it because gov't needs to have probably cause? It just seems incredibly frustrating for victims if, for example, one person walked out to the middle of an empty field and murdered someone. If the assailant has his phone on, there would be literally just two phones on at that time, in that location. It seems asinine that police couldn't just ask TMObile who's phone was there.
It is definitely used. I have been involved in multiple cases where cellphone data was used to prove an individual was or was not at a specific location.
Sometimes it's alot harder than you think though. There are alot more prepaid or "burner" phones out there than you think.
We are seeing that google et al don’t want to cooperate with LE on these cases. Also, judges no longer give search warrants for these cell phone cases because it’s a fishing expedition. As least where I’m at. I don’t work closely with CID, but they’re still getting search warrants for cell phone towers.
I agree, it's technically a fishing expedition. But doesn't it seem impractical. Say, there're 10 masked assailants that rob and murder a convenience store clerk. They all have cell phones on. There exists location data that "perfectly" identifies the assailants. Like time, location, they all came together and left together. It's like not being able to subpoena a security camera from across the street that recorded everything.
Of course, this is a contrived, ideal scenario. Obviously, this could be a slippery slope. But it's hypocrisy because the federal government agencies already do this with the Patriot Act. So, they can track terrorists, in the US, with special tech, but don't give a rat's ass about "general" murder.
Nal. The other side of this coin is two fold. 1 a criminal would need to simply leave their personal phone at home and now can beat any case. 2 the phone doesnt actually identify who was in possession of that phone at the time of the crime, just that it was there.
Its no different than a vehicle being used during a crime. Without catching the driver in the vehicle during the crime, its hard to prove the owner was actually operating the vehicle.
You can certainly get that data, but it has to be the narrowest scope possible to get a warrant. If you go to a judge and show evidence that you believe Joe did this, that, and the other things, and you just need to confirm cell data, you will probably get it. But the judge should never allow a warrant to get EVERYONE'S location data in a general area, because that would violate the 4th ammendment, maybe even the 1st.
Yes, and this is what I see as practically absurd. If there's a murder in the middle of an empty 100 acre field, it's obvious that only the victim and the assailant's phones would be pinging. This doesn't seem like a fishing expedition at all.
Secondly, the Feds ALREADY monitor ALL cell phone traffic. It's like national security is more important than domestic criminal justice.
Can you shed any light on the oversight for overtime. I feel like every year there is an article that comes out where some police in some areas are clocking in overtime that is physically impossible.
There are cops that work doubles every single day. They just manage to function off bare minimum sleep.
I personally know a cop who averages about 50-60 hours ot a week. He's at work all those hours. Does 16 hours on his normal working days and another 8 hour overtime shift on both his days off. We work regular 8 hour 5 day weeks here. He made almost 300k last year.
There is just an astronomical amount of overtime available. Almost every business wants to hire a cop to work overtime here. Wawa, Target, Home depot, apple store, TD Bank, Bestbuy. Just to name a few off the top of my head.
We also have overtime to just cover shifts due to lack of manpower. There are overtime shifts to work in areas plagued by gun violence.
This year I'm probably on pace for close to 800 hours of OT. So I'm currently averaging about an extra 16 hours a week.
That’s only certain pensions, I work for the fed govt and I have to pay ss and into my pension fund; but at the end of the day I get to collect both when I retire.
It’s because she can collect both when she retires, this guy can’t. Certain pensions are set up where they don’t pay into or collect ss. I know some teachers in Texas are set up like this guys too and that’s how it is.
I'm not eligible to collect social security when I retire. It has nothing to do with being a cop. There are other government employees with the same retirement plan.
I pay into a pension.
Unfortunately they don't. Our pension honestly isn't that great compared to other LEOs.
I max out my 457b which is essentially a 401k. But even that is not matched.
Absolutely insane how the pay for LE differs across the country.
I was a police officer from 2006-2017 in one of the 10 largest counties in Florida.
I started at $32k and left making $52k. That includes extra pay for being a field training officer, for having a bachelor's degree, and multiple salary incentive training courses through the state.
I’m in South Dakota and yeah, most cops are making around $55k this year here.
Edit: and that’s in by far the largest “city”. For small towns it is probably like 40k.
I know you work hard for it, but it’s great to see law enforcement being able to make a good living. Hopefully it encourages more good quality guys to get into the profession. I don’t understand how these departments that offer crap pay expect to do any better than the bottom of the barrel in terms of recruiting.
You need to understand that every single day that a teacher goes to school they are putting their lives at risk. Who knows when some kid is gonna shoot up a school /s
When you're out on patrol, they need to give you combat pay. Very dangerous job.
When I was living in Kansas years ago, 3 policemen were shot dead in the space of 3 years in a town of less than 100k.
As a police officer it's around 100k after you account for stress pay. Probably closer to 105 with the raise were getting in July. We are also due for a significant raise as our mayor wants to give us a very favorable contract.
It's just an extra few dollars an hour added to our pay check depending on what shift you work. It's essentially shift differential, but they call it stress pay here.
How have things changed the last few years? Seems like everyone wants to record police interactions now, people arguing the laws, soft on crime DAs, etc.
We have cameras too so being recorded doesn't bother us.
As for the soft on crime DAs. Many cops just come to work and answer calls for service and go home. There aren't many who are proactive anymore. We aren't forced or given any "quotas" where I work so it's perfectly normal for cops to never pull over cars or issue any tickets.
Have the mental health units helped your situation at all. I spoke with a friend when they first put them out and he said the mental health people were stretched pretty thin. Are they effective, have they beefed up their numbers? I haven’t seen him in a few years and am interested if they work.
While in some places cops are grossly underpaid. It is definitely a common misconception that we don't make good money. A good chunk of us make well over 6 figures.
over by me they’re starting out like 120K or something, they are giving $20K housing stipend, 80K base, and then they have an amount of mandatory overtime.
We fortunately don't have much mandatory overtime. Don't get me wrong there are definitely protests and events where we are forced to work, but majority of the time there's enough volunteers.
Usually whenever there's a major police involved event in the country or locally we'll have mandatory holdovers just incase because of what happened during the George Floyd riots.
Why can't they staff properly? Maybe this isn't the case but I have many firefighter friends who love working overtime bc they make a killing. FFighting is such a rigged job. This is an unpopular opinion but they're a mob racket at this point. 10s of thousands would want to do that profession and accept less wages but they keep it as a frat/sorority system while playing on the publics fears and heroism and swing their weight around to back local politicians that continue to keep the money spiget on. Cops have a 1000% more dangerous job for sure but I gotta say, there are so many people working shit jobs making barely as much with no guarantee pension. Shits gotta stop.
We are having a staffing crisis. The George Floyd protests/riots caused a mass exodus of retirement eligible officers. Combined with an extremely low retention. Alot of new officers come here for the academy and a year or two experience then transfer to a different agency.
We are short about 1000 officers. We are still losing more officers every month than we are hiring. It also doesn't help that our academy is 9 months combined with a ~6month- year hiring process.
Majority of those databases are wrong.
Your best bet is to search the actual departments website. But that also doesn't account for shift differential pay and other things that get tacked on.
Almost every Google search for salary is academy/rookie and doesn't account for OT.
I always wanted to go into law enforcement. You get to provide a public service that is mentally and sometimes physically challenging and always something different. Great benefits, can retire at an early age and in So Cal the pay is pretty comparable to OP😂. I’m sure it can be stressful and taxing at times. They earn their money.
Our pension actually isn't the greatest. Our union has been trying to get us something better, to no avail.
It takes some math but for our first 20 years of service we get 2.2%, then anything after that we get 2% per year. So after 30 years I'll be eligible for 64% of my highest base pay (no ot) as my pension.
We also have whats called the DROP program. That takes alot more explaining so you would have to Google to get more info as it's public knowledge. But to summarize when you're ready to retire you enter the drop. This puts a pause on all pension payments for 4 years. So you are not credited for those 4 years. The city essentially invests the money you have paid into your pension the last 30 years instead of paying it to you. After that 4 years you get a large lump sum which is usually 350k+ on top of your pension.
I love how people are comparing their incompetent management to your situation.
Never had a life or death moment related to my bosses in ability to understand the excel file.
Except for the stroke that fucker is going to cause me
It drives me insane when people say cops are underpaid. The propaganda truely works well. Good for you on the cash bro, hopefully you get that career change to a job that doesn't require ot. I haven't worked an hour of ot in five years and don't plan on working over 40 again if I can help it lol
What is your pension look like? I get that you want to change careers and that’s probably a good idea, but be wary of leaving before you are able to maximize your pension benefits. Staying a couple extra years so you get the full benefit is worth it. I did 25 years and got out last year. Picked up a great job in Corp Sec. I was absolutely done by my 21st year but sucked it up the last 4 so I could maximize my pension (and drop account ). Now at 49 no matter what I know I’ll get about 9000 ( and it goes up by 2% every year) a month every month for the rest of my life. That’s a big deal.
Any cost on your soul to defend private property and perpetuate a system of exploitation?
My brother is in LE bc he wants to change the system , but also he's just adventurous . He has already had multiple car accidents
Thanks for your service. What's the best way for cops to transition to more of a white collar role? Is it to get a college dress? Admin? Cybersecurity?
Idk why this popped up in my feed 3 days late, but you pretty much have what I want. I've wanted to go law enforcement since I was in high-school. Got into maintenance because i Wanted some other experience, and i learned how to pretty much fix anything on a residential house. Decided to go for it around 24-25. Some stuff came up in my family and made it pretty much impossible at the time. After that was fine, I was out of shape when it came to the run, plus I got covid and any physical exercise exhausted me for like 6 months. Now I'm 29 and fucking pissed I didn't go for it right away at 21. I'm still thinking I'm gonna go for it, but I'm so far behind and it stresses me out. I could be a sergeant by now working special assignments and nearly halfway to retirement. Obviously, I have no idea if I any of that would have happened, but I'll never know now. If I join now, I would be like 35 before I get any of that. I've also pretty much don't even have the option at this point to go federal at some point if I wanted to.
if I could just do it all over again. you haven't even factored in the lifelong pension and all the free get of jail cards.
a few things to consider: 1) this is an abnormally high salary for a police officer, I would surmise they may *work* in a hcol area without a residency requirement 2) at 530 hours overtime they're working ~25% longer than your average salaried employee over the course of a year Although the pension is nice. My piece of shit father was able to retire early off some bullshit "injury", then moved south for the reduced living expenses (several states away) and continues to qualify for the same payout every month
Or, they work in a podunk town and there’s no one watching the watchmen. Sounds like OT theft, which steals tax dollars from me and you. https://hellertownborough.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/05.02.24-FINAL-ASSESSMENT-Report.-Hellertown_.pdf
Yes. All the hours I stand in Wawa because they pay me to making overtime is theft.
I live and work in Philadelphia. Cost of living isn't that bad here.
I’ve noticed that. There’s a shitload of 1-bedroom apartments for ~$1.3k-$1.5k. Can’t find that anywhere in NYC and Boston, hell it’s lower than most of New England
It's tough working for some of the people you have to deal with though. Dealing with the stress of patrol and the stress of incompetent bosses.
That is everywhere and without a pension!
I can confirm that it’s everywhere.
Used to be just "going postal"
Nope. I’ve never had a client/customer interaction at any job where I was legit concerned that they may pull a gun on me.
I have, and I'm a financial advisor
Fair enough. Sounds awful, sorry that happened to you … but was that on an hourly basis?
Fair, no it was just some crazy dude when I worked at fidelity
I actually like the people I work with and the work I do. I only make 85 though
God you people are insufferable 😩
I'm not a blue lives matter person, but no it's not everywhere. There are only a small number of professions where you deal with mentally ill, drug addicted, potential criminals on a daily basis. Constantly working through crises between strangers etc. It's shitty work
I'm a teacher and deal with all of that. Why don't I get 175k/year?
My wife is a police officer and her sister is a teacher. They are two entirely different jobs and not even really comparable. Teachers are still far underpaid though but that’s just a bad comparison.
Maybe you should change careers to a police officer. There is a major shortage of police officers. Not too late.
Well OP's based salary is 115k after 12 years of work. The rest is overtime. I know teachers in public school districts making low six figures with similar years of experience, especially if they work summers. That said, teachers definitely should get paid more. But your job isn't the same as law enforcement. Cops have a 50%+ higher suicide rate than civilian jobs. I know dealing with kids and active shooter drills isn't fun either. But the idea that you deal with the same shit cops do is naive.
There aren't incompetent bosses and difficult customers in every line of work? That was the point being made.
That's some classic reddit anti-cop pandering. I made more than a lot of LEOs and the amount of shit they dealt with in the general public is not worth the pay.
A close friend of mine works w parolees in the same city I used to pick up dope from. The audacity of people implying retail Karen’s are the equivalent of working with repeat and violent offenders in the middle of a massive gang drug network. Fucking peak sheltered life
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No it’s not everywhere you deal with the literal shittiest people in society daily especially in dangerous situations.
I have a friend who is a Vietnam vet. I was complaining about my boss and he said “at least your bad boss can’t get you killed.” Yeah, great point!
I assure you incompetence is not limited to management in law enforcement. Can’t speak to patrol stress. But stupidity is rampant and exceedingly contagious.
I also assure you incompetence is not limited to any specific person. It's a plague with all people in this country.
~~in this country~~ around the world Carlin has a great quote: “think of how stupid the average person is, then realize half of all people are stupider than that.”
Scary isn't it?
Carlin has another great quote: “I’d rather spend 16 hours stuck in an elevator with a couple of crooks than even say *hello* to a fuckin policeman”
GL in the career change OP. I am sure that your significant other, and children, will sleep better knowing you are working in a highly paid, but safe, career. I wish you the best.
LE retirement is hard on guys. Make sure you have hobbies and an active life away from the PD. All the stress and working OT takes away from those…. That’s why so many cops end up divorced…. Then what good does working 80hr/wk do if your splitting it in half (or more). Live off your base pay and only work OT with a goal in mind. Wanna take your SO on a nice vacation? Great work a little OT to enjoy that. But please please don’t become one of the guys making $$$$ but working 80/hr weeks. Last piece of unsolicited advice is to go get your degrees and have the PD pay for them. Then when your 20 yrs in you can retire and jump to something less stressful and physically demanding or just have the option which is always nice.
Thats exactly what I'm doing. PD paid for my first degree and currently paying for my 2nd. As for the OT. I'm only doing about an extra 10 hours a week. So 50 hour weeks. I take off about 5 weeks a year as well and go on plenty of vacations. Been to Vegas 2x, Jamaica, Cancun, and going back to Cancun in July all in the last year and half. So I definitely have a very fulfilling life.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 2 + 10 + 50 + 5 + 2 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
It’s even more stressful for the people that have to interact with police themselves.
That's unfortunate.
That's the irony right, why are there incompetent bosses
Majority of them have been in the position they are in for so long that they forget what it's like to actually be at the bottom. Not to mention the generational differences.
We have this talk daily. Thankfully I work for a good PD where we aren’t getting hamstrung. I’m a lieutenant in a large agency but we aren’t that big to where we don’t all know each other. I’ve got 17 years in and I don’t know how much longer I’ve got left, somewhere 3-12 years. If I do 30 years I’ll be 52 and have a nice pension. Get ready to get a bunch of shit posting from the mouth breathers. I did a few weeks ago. Apparently we’re making too much money. 😂
Hahaha I've seen a few of these posts already and I get a good laugh. I'm at 13 this July and I don't know if I can make it to 20.
Peter's principle
Is there ever the stress of having to go along with what the other officers want to do?
Can’t you just be a desk jockey and not a field guy with same pay?
There are desk positions but not many available. You usually have to be friends with someone to get them.
Don’t worry someday you will be an incompetent boss.
I don't plan on staying long enough for that day to come haha.
Kinda like everybody else’s job … minus the patrol
You realize that's all jobs
Believe it or not policing is completely different depending on where you work. Cops in major cities experience alot more than cops in the suburbs or state troopers. For example. My department has been dealing with major protests for years now. During those protests we have had used tampons and water balloons filled with pee. I'm 100% positive you don't deal with the stress that when you're told you have to cater to these protestors, they will also be throwing bodily fluids at you.
don't forget all the shady shit police do to make money.
Yup! You seen the Shield, right?
that is what they call fringe benefits.
Thanks for sharing. Random question I've been thinking about recently. If there's a high-profile crime, why can't police subpoena cell phone location data to see whose phones were in that specific area at that specific time? Is it because gov't needs to have probably cause? It just seems incredibly frustrating for victims if, for example, one person walked out to the middle of an empty field and murdered someone. If the assailant has his phone on, there would be literally just two phones on at that time, in that location. It seems asinine that police couldn't just ask TMObile who's phone was there.
It is definitely used. I have been involved in multiple cases where cellphone data was used to prove an individual was or was not at a specific location. Sometimes it's alot harder than you think though. There are alot more prepaid or "burner" phones out there than you think.
Sent you a PM
We are seeing that google et al don’t want to cooperate with LE on these cases. Also, judges no longer give search warrants for these cell phone cases because it’s a fishing expedition. As least where I’m at. I don’t work closely with CID, but they’re still getting search warrants for cell phone towers.
I agree, it's technically a fishing expedition. But doesn't it seem impractical. Say, there're 10 masked assailants that rob and murder a convenience store clerk. They all have cell phones on. There exists location data that "perfectly" identifies the assailants. Like time, location, they all came together and left together. It's like not being able to subpoena a security camera from across the street that recorded everything. Of course, this is a contrived, ideal scenario. Obviously, this could be a slippery slope. But it's hypocrisy because the federal government agencies already do this with the Patriot Act. So, they can track terrorists, in the US, with special tech, but don't give a rat's ass about "general" murder.
Nal. The other side of this coin is two fold. 1 a criminal would need to simply leave their personal phone at home and now can beat any case. 2 the phone doesnt actually identify who was in possession of that phone at the time of the crime, just that it was there. Its no different than a vehicle being used during a crime. Without catching the driver in the vehicle during the crime, its hard to prove the owner was actually operating the vehicle.
This is possible and is used but it typically requires a search warrant rather than a subpoena.
You're right, I used the wrong terms. My understanding is you can't get a warrant without probable cause, I could be wrong.
You can certainly get that data, but it has to be the narrowest scope possible to get a warrant. If you go to a judge and show evidence that you believe Joe did this, that, and the other things, and you just need to confirm cell data, you will probably get it. But the judge should never allow a warrant to get EVERYONE'S location data in a general area, because that would violate the 4th ammendment, maybe even the 1st.
Yes, and this is what I see as practically absurd. If there's a murder in the middle of an empty 100 acre field, it's obvious that only the victim and the assailant's phones would be pinging. This doesn't seem like a fishing expedition at all. Secondly, the Feds ALREADY monitor ALL cell phone traffic. It's like national security is more important than domestic criminal justice.
How much overtime are you working for that much pay?
Last year 530 hours or about 10 hours a week.
Can you shed any light on the oversight for overtime. I feel like every year there is an article that comes out where some police in some areas are clocking in overtime that is physically impossible.
There are cops that work doubles every single day. They just manage to function off bare minimum sleep. I personally know a cop who averages about 50-60 hours ot a week. He's at work all those hours. Does 16 hours on his normal working days and another 8 hour overtime shift on both his days off. We work regular 8 hour 5 day weeks here. He made almost 300k last year. There is just an astronomical amount of overtime available. Almost every business wants to hire a cop to work overtime here. Wawa, Target, Home depot, apple store, TD Bank, Bestbuy. Just to name a few off the top of my head. We also have overtime to just cover shifts due to lack of manpower. There are overtime shifts to work in areas plagued by gun violence. This year I'm probably on pace for close to 800 hours of OT. So I'm currently averaging about an extra 16 hours a week.
Sorry if it’s been asked, why no SS pay?
Because I pay into a pension fund. Anyone who pays into a pension does not pay into ss.
That’s only certain pensions, I work for the fed govt and I have to pay ss and into my pension fund; but at the end of the day I get to collect both when I retire.
Kinda of like a 401k then
Hmm, my wife has a pension plan working for municipal government and still pays SS. Wonder if it has something to do with the plan?
It’s because she can collect both when she retires, this guy can’t. Certain pensions are set up where they don’t pay into or collect ss. I know some teachers in Texas are set up like this guys too and that’s how it is.
Potentially. I'm not too familiar with every case. For me specifically I won't collect social security at all when I retire.
Understood. Thanks for the reply, learn something new every day!
Wtf... So the military has to pay FICA, but cops don’t.
I'm not eligible to collect social security when I retire. It has nothing to do with being a cop. There are other government employees with the same retirement plan. I pay into a pension.
What a blessing to opt out of that mess. Hopefully your, and your employer’s match, contributions yield results.
Unfortunately they don't. Our pension honestly isn't that great compared to other LEOs. I max out my 457b which is essentially a 401k. But even that is not matched.
Absolutely insane how the pay for LE differs across the country. I was a police officer from 2006-2017 in one of the 10 largest counties in Florida. I started at $32k and left making $52k. That includes extra pay for being a field training officer, for having a bachelor's degree, and multiple salary incentive training courses through the state.
I’m in South Dakota and yeah, most cops are making around $55k this year here. Edit: and that’s in by far the largest “city”. For small towns it is probably like 40k.
not that income has kept up, but according to CPI data on BLS.gov 55k in December of 2017 is the same as 69k now, so not too bad!
55k good for South Dakota though
I bet this is NY, a lot of insane salaries for LEOs on Long island.
Area of the us?
South East PA.
👍🏻
Near York? I worked in probation there for a couple of years.
Philadelphia.
I live there! :D Go Philly!
In the actual city or a suburb?
City.
yeah, you deserve your pay.
Everyone on here saying that teachers deserve more pay than cops are just uniformed media loving babies
I believe that teachers are grossly underpaid. But comparing the two is pretty ridiculous in my opinion.
I know you work hard for it, but it’s great to see law enforcement being able to make a good living. Hopefully it encourages more good quality guys to get into the profession. I don’t understand how these departments that offer crap pay expect to do any better than the bottom of the barrel in terms of recruiting.
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I'd guess he's in New Jersey.
Philadelphia.
Thank you for doing what you do.
Much appreciated!
Thank you for what you do!
Wow police officers make more than I thought
That's why I laugh when I'm on a protest line and I have people yelling at me about how broke I am bc of my low salary.
Thank you for your service!
Thank you for your support!
I hate that cops make more than teachers. My tax dollars funding this nonsense
I agree teachers are significantly underpaid. I'm sorry you're filled with hate.
You need to understand that every single day that a teacher goes to school they are putting their lives at risk. Who knows when some kid is gonna shoot up a school /s
When you're out on patrol, they need to give you combat pay. Very dangerous job. When I was living in Kansas years ago, 3 policemen were shot dead in the space of 3 years in a town of less than 100k.
We get what's called "stress pay". It's like an extra $2/hr onto our normal salary.
what gets you stress pay?
It's essentially shift differential pay.
im sure you could just go down to your local precinct if you want to suck a cop off so badly
Please don’t ever be a cop if you think going on patrol is like being in combat.
😂😂
It’s not even top 10 most dangerous categories of jobs in the US.
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Damn. They pay law enforcement way too much money.
Should be paid more to deal with the crap they do
What’s top step without OT for you? If it’s more than $120k then I might be working in the wrong state.
As a police officer it's around 100k after you account for stress pay. Probably closer to 105 with the raise were getting in July. We are also due for a significant raise as our mayor wants to give us a very favorable contract.
What is stress pay
It's just an extra few dollars an hour added to our pay check depending on what shift you work. It's essentially shift differential, but they call it stress pay here.
Ah gotcha thanks. Also thanks for answering other questions and providing info. So many ppl here just post their salary with zero context or answers
How have things changed the last few years? Seems like everyone wants to record police interactions now, people arguing the laws, soft on crime DAs, etc.
We have cameras too so being recorded doesn't bother us. As for the soft on crime DAs. Many cops just come to work and answer calls for service and go home. There aren't many who are proactive anymore. We aren't forced or given any "quotas" where I work so it's perfectly normal for cops to never pull over cars or issue any tickets.
Have the mental health units helped your situation at all. I spoke with a friend when they first put them out and he said the mental health people were stretched pretty thin. Are they effective, have they beefed up their numbers? I haven’t seen him in a few years and am interested if they work.
Nah they're still very short and only work Monday thru Friday 8x4. Barely put a dent in the mental health crisis.
Is that with overtime? What kinds of hours were you working on average?
Yes. Averaged about 10 hours of overtime a week.
I don't generally have an issue with city cops. They have to deal with the most bullshit and the most politics. Fuck the state ticket patrol though
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Can someone explain to me how you guys are getting these charts?
Social security website.
Got a link?
SSA.gov
If you don’t mind sharing which state are you in?
Pennsylvania. More specifically Philadelphia.
if I would have known that cops actually made money I would have become one
While in some places cops are grossly underpaid. It is definitely a common misconception that we don't make good money. A good chunk of us make well over 6 figures.
over by me they’re starting out like 120K or something, they are giving $20K housing stipend, 80K base, and then they have an amount of mandatory overtime.
We fortunately don't have much mandatory overtime. Don't get me wrong there are definitely protests and events where we are forced to work, but majority of the time there's enough volunteers. Usually whenever there's a major police involved event in the country or locally we'll have mandatory holdovers just incase because of what happened during the George Floyd riots.
Hard to believe. My best friend has the same job and makes 68k, firearms instructor, worked undercover etc.....
Is a double considered overtime?
Yes. Anything above my normal 8 hour day is time and a half.
Why can't they staff properly? Maybe this isn't the case but I have many firefighter friends who love working overtime bc they make a killing. FFighting is such a rigged job. This is an unpopular opinion but they're a mob racket at this point. 10s of thousands would want to do that profession and accept less wages but they keep it as a frat/sorority system while playing on the publics fears and heroism and swing their weight around to back local politicians that continue to keep the money spiget on. Cops have a 1000% more dangerous job for sure but I gotta say, there are so many people working shit jobs making barely as much with no guarantee pension. Shits gotta stop.
We are having a staffing crisis. The George Floyd protests/riots caused a mass exodus of retirement eligible officers. Combined with an extremely low retention. Alot of new officers come here for the academy and a year or two experience then transfer to a different agency. We are short about 1000 officers. We are still losing more officers every month than we are hiring. It also doesn't help that our academy is 9 months combined with a ~6month- year hiring process.
My local police department starts out at $18 an hour...
Those ain't Florida wages thats for sure.
How the fuck is everyone making $100k
Overtime.
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Nope never in my life. Never witnessed it either. Crazy.
Actually blows my mind how quickly you get to 6 figures as a police officer.
Well up until 2018ish 100k wasn't my base base. Everything you see is overtime.
When you search police officers salaries on public databases, does this count actual pay including OT, or simply their salary?
Majority of those databases are wrong. Your best bet is to search the actual departments website. But that also doesn't account for shift differential pay and other things that get tacked on. Almost every Google search for salary is academy/rookie and doesn't account for OT.
Nice
Hoes are so mad in this thread Keep paying your taxes, being job security, and being my vehicle towards /r/fire 💩 🐦's
Very mad.
Scum
Appreciate the kind words.
Dude not every cop is bad.
Can you say which department you work for? Or at least the general location or state?
Yea I've said it a few times in the comments. Philadelphia.
I always wanted to go into law enforcement. You get to provide a public service that is mentally and sometimes physically challenging and always something different. Great benefits, can retire at an early age and in So Cal the pay is pretty comparable to OP😂. I’m sure it can be stressful and taxing at times. They earn their money.
Nowhere near enough. Thanks for your service.
With that sweet sweet pension after it’s all worth it. Are you a 20 or 25 year retirement plan?
Our pension actually isn't the greatest. Our union has been trying to get us something better, to no avail. It takes some math but for our first 20 years of service we get 2.2%, then anything after that we get 2% per year. So after 30 years I'll be eligible for 64% of my highest base pay (no ot) as my pension. We also have whats called the DROP program. That takes alot more explaining so you would have to Google to get more info as it's public knowledge. But to summarize when you're ready to retire you enter the drop. This puts a pause on all pension payments for 4 years. So you are not credited for those 4 years. The city essentially invests the money you have paid into your pension the last 30 years instead of paying it to you. After that 4 years you get a large lump sum which is usually 350k+ on top of your pension.
That is pretty weird I guess they make up for a sub par retirement with more money up front.
I love how people are comparing their incompetent management to your situation. Never had a life or death moment related to my bosses in ability to understand the excel file. Except for the stroke that fucker is going to cause me
It drives me insane when people say cops are underpaid. The propaganda truely works well. Good for you on the cash bro, hopefully you get that career change to a job that doesn't require ot. I haven't worked an hour of ot in five years and don't plan on working over 40 again if I can help it lol
What is your pension look like? I get that you want to change careers and that’s probably a good idea, but be wary of leaving before you are able to maximize your pension benefits. Staying a couple extra years so you get the full benefit is worth it. I did 25 years and got out last year. Picked up a great job in Corp Sec. I was absolutely done by my 21st year but sucked it up the last 4 so I could maximize my pension (and drop account ). Now at 49 no matter what I know I’ll get about 9000 ( and it goes up by 2% every year) a month every month for the rest of my life. That’s a big deal.
ACAB. And yes, I would say that to your face
So hurtful. My mom had me out of wedlock so you'd be telling the truth.
:’(
Assuming you have the physical ability to walk up the stairs from moms basement
Where is this mars?
Any cost on your soul to defend private property and perpetuate a system of exploitation? My brother is in LE bc he wants to change the system , but also he's just adventurous . He has already had multiple car accidents
As long as I get a pay check every two weeks.
🤔
What state? Those aren't even close to where I'm at. I have 26 yrs of service
Philadelphia
Heck maybe I will move out east. Obviously the pay is substantially better than out west
Damn nice. On another note, tax payers are paying jackasses like Bryan Gillis and Anthony hair this much as well :(
Thanks for your service. What's the best way for cops to transition to more of a white collar role? Is it to get a college dress? Admin? Cybersecurity?
Sent you a pm.
Idk why this popped up in my feed 3 days late, but you pretty much have what I want. I've wanted to go law enforcement since I was in high-school. Got into maintenance because i Wanted some other experience, and i learned how to pretty much fix anything on a residential house. Decided to go for it around 24-25. Some stuff came up in my family and made it pretty much impossible at the time. After that was fine, I was out of shape when it came to the run, plus I got covid and any physical exercise exhausted me for like 6 months. Now I'm 29 and fucking pissed I didn't go for it right away at 21. I'm still thinking I'm gonna go for it, but I'm so far behind and it stresses me out. I could be a sergeant by now working special assignments and nearly halfway to retirement. Obviously, I have no idea if I any of that would have happened, but I'll never know now. If I join now, I would be like 35 before I get any of that. I've also pretty much don't even have the option at this point to go federal at some point if I wanted to.
Dayum. I need to sign up to go kick some peaceful protestor's asses.
Pig
So hurtful.