3 ms·
Disclaimer: I've never been a cop, but I have several close friends who are. Generally speaking, this means disciplinary action (e.g., time off without pay) a
by unit91 11y ago
Disclaimer: I've never been a cop, but I have several close friends who are.
Generally speaking, this means disciplinary action (e.g., time off without pay) and accompanying documentation. While that may not sound that bad, there are a few things that add teeth:
1. Cops make OK money compared to an average citizen, but not GREAT money. Their retirement is often tied to employment with a particular city, county, etc. Too many disciplinary actions, or one really big one, will result in being fired, meaning you've also lost your retirement investment.
2. If you want a better/higher-paying job within the department (detective, SWAT, aviation, etc.), you have to get internally hired for it. If your record is tainted by documented misconduct, you're probably never going to get promoted.
3. The law enforcement community is small and paperwork follows you everywhere. Getting fired or being un-promotable will probably be known to other departments if you try to get a job somewhere else. This is why e.g., Darren Wilson had to change careers even though a grand jury cleared him of criminal wrongdoing [1].
References:
1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/darren-wilson-ferguson-shooting-made-him-unemployable/31097619/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/darren-...
- discardorama 11y ago> 1. Cops make OK money compared to an average citizen, but not GREAT money. Their retirement is often tied to employment with a particular city, county, etc. Too many disciplinary actions, or one really big one, will result in being fired, meaning you've also lost your retirement investment. Well, you just have to look at SF's salary database to see that cops don't make "OK money", but "pretty good" money. http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2014/san-francisco/ http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2014/san-francisco... Or, if you just want all employees with "police" in the name or title: http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?a=san-francisco&q=police&y=2014 http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?a=san-fran...
- unit91 11y agoAccording to Wikipedia [1], SFPD is highest-paid department in the US. According to the BLS [2], the 2014 median pay for a police officer was $58,630. Compared to society as a whole, that's ok money, but not great money. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Police_Department https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Police_Departmen... 2. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detecti...
- MagnumOpus 11y agoIt is great money once you consider that the massive gold-plated final-salary pension entitlements after 20 years roughly double their salaries compared to someone who has to save for his retirement himself.
- luckydude 11y agoMy understanding is many (most?) cop pension plan payouts are based on the highest paid year. So every cop does something called spiking, they do a ton of hours and turn their $100K/year job into a $200K/year job and get retirement based on the $200K/year. Or they get promoted to a higher paying job just before they retire so the pension is based on the higher pay. That makes for a pretty pleasant life style, 20 years and you retire to a sweet, sweet pension. Social Security offers a much better model, what you get back is based on what you put in, you can't spike it. Here's just one article, you can find lots with the google: http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=35211 http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=35211