| Chapter 1
The
Crime Beat: Police Pay Profile
By
Dave Krajicek
How does the police agency you cover stack up with those in other
cities?
Comparison stories can make compelling reading, whether the topic
is crime statistics, use of force, or gender and racial equity.
Policepay.net (http://www.policepay.net),
a police compensation consulting firm based in Oklahoma City, is
a good resource for comparative stories about contracts and wages.
The site offers contract details for hundreds of American police
departments.
For example, you can use the details to compare base salaries for
ranks of other cities in America, both comparably sized or not.
Here are examples from policepay.net of base wages for four ranks,
rounded to the nearest thousand:
| Population Rank |
Officer |
Sergeant |
Lieutenant |
Captain |
| 1. New York |
$31,000 |
55,000 |
58,000 |
63,000 |
| 2. Los Angeles |
$47,000 |
74,000 |
87,000 |
102,000 |
| 12. Indianapolis |
$33,000 |
49,000 |
54,000 |
60,000 |
| 29. Oklahoma City |
$39,000 |
44,000 |
58,000 |
63,000 |
| 31. New Orleans |
$25,000 |
35,000 |
37,000 |
45,000 |
| 49. Wichita |
$32,000 |
36,000 |
38,000 |
48,000 |
| 50. Santa Ana, CA |
$56,000 |
69,000 |
95,000 |
112,000 |
| 67. St. Petersburg |
$35,000 |
53,000 |
64,000 |
No rank |
| 73. Baton Rouge |
$25,000 |
28,000 |
30,000 |
32,000 |
| 74. Hialeah, FL |
$34,000 |
49,000 |
57,000 |
No rank |
| 99. Irving, TX |
$39,000 |
56,000 |
67,000 |
75,000 |
| 125. Tempe, AZ |
$41,000 |
58,000 |
No rank |
No rank |
| 150. Brownsville |
$27,000 |
43,000 |
50,000 |
No rank |
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