The base salary mentioned here, 151k a year, doesn't bother me at all. I'm a little alarmed that enough overtime is available to make $156k more (do we have a

The base salary mentioned here, 151k a year, doesn't bother me at all. I'm a little alarmed that enough overtime is available to make $156k more (do we have a bleary, edgy, sleep deprived guy with a badge and gun going into tense situations?). It doesn't bug me that cashing in unused vacation time can push this number up, as a one time deal. What does bug me is the line: "The salary cops make in their final year is often used to calculate pension size. Pension spiking is something the taxpayers should be angry about. The truly serious problem isn't that the guy made $442k one year (though this does raise some questions), but that this number will be used to calculate his pension for the rest of his life. I'd need to know what percentage of this $442 he'll be paid for the rest of his life, but if it's a high percentage, that is fleecing the taxpayer, even if he's been a great employee. There's a pretty big difference between "moan and complain about every dollar of tax paid" and objecting to pension spiking. You can feel that public employees should have good pay and good retirement while disagreeing that this kind of pension spiking is reasonable.