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San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

sf-police.org

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Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#61

Post by tptacek »

whyenot wrote: post #44
rayiner wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So do members of the military and they get paid half as much.

Well, then they should get a pay raise. It's about time anyways. You can easily make $150k a year as a private contractor.

Numbers like that are likely to represent gross pay. Military personnel deployed to combat zones are meanwhile tax-exempt, and receive comprehensive benefits.

The arithmetic for comparing deployed military and private contractors is probably similar to the comparison between full-time employees and freelancers.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#62

Post by Zigurd »

plg wrote: post #8

These men and women are signing up to protect us, at great personal physical (not to mention psychological) risk. They should absolutely earn a living wage that enables them to live in the community in which they serve.

> "These men and women are signing up to protect us..."

There is a lot of propaganda to that effect, but most of their actual activity does not support that. Solution rates for strong-arm robbery and serious property crime are low, and the prisons are full of small-time drug sellers.

It also makes no sense that police officers need to live in the municipality in which they work unless it would help reduce the crime rate.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#63

Post by Zigurd »

aaronapple wrote: post #26

This should be heavily publicized. Hopefully, by letting people know that they can earn a good living by being a police officer, the quality of candidates will continue to increase. Entering the police force still carries a stigma, IMO, particularly around not being highly intelligent or thinking for oneself. Those are likely the people we want as our police officers; I'm more than happy to have my taxes support such…

It's the culture, not the pay. Want to get horrified? Go read cop boards like officer.com.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#64

Post by FireBeyond »

plg wrote: post #8

These men and women are signing up to protect us, at great personal physical (not to mention psychological) risk. They should absolutely earn a living wage that enables them to live in the community in which they serve.

Here's one to mull over... unless associated with a Fire Department, most EMTs working on ambulances are paid near minimum wage (sub $10/hr in most parts of the country). When I was working on private ambulances building experience, it was usually of great surprise to the baristas serving us coffee that they made more money than the person who provides emergency medical care when you dial 911.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#65

Post by FireBeyond »

brohoolio wrote: post #27

In contrast Detroit Police start at $30,137. Something tells me the San Francisco police don't have to transport dead bodies in their cars or any of the other horror stories I've heard from the DPD.

And similar with Detroit Fire: http://www.detroitfirefilm.org - long, hard, dangerous, and badly paid, with fire engines that are badly maintained, in the highest arson area in the world.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#66

Post by FireBeyond »

dannypgh wrote: post #22
nessup wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Police officers put their personal safety on the line daily. I think this compensation is adequate.

So do quite a lot of other people. Consider the rates of fatal injuries and salaries at http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-jobs-in-americ...

Safety makes a huge difference. It is so ingrained into firefighter culture such that despite the risks of this profession, it doesn’t rate as one of the most dangerous jobs (although overall it’s much higher than would seem to be the case - 44 fatalities would put it on this chart, but for the large numbers of volunteer firefighters in remote areas that rarely see a call).

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#67

Post by danielweber »

rjknight wrote: post #19

It's worth paying for good, non-corrupt police officers. Better to pay them well and hold them to high standards than to accept lower standards for lower pay.

Okay, but are they being held to high standards?

This is a serious question, not rhetorical. Can someone demonstrate how the officers are being held to a high standard?

For example, what percentage of officers are fired each year? There is no one "right answer" here, but if it's less than 0.1%, we know that they practically cannot be fired.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#68

Post by danielweber »

nawitus wrote: post #56
oh_sigh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the market rate for police officers? Where is the police officer market?

You pay the minimum amount that gets a suitable candidate.

A good way to test is to see how hard it is to find candidates. If few people are showing up, you aren't paying enough. If you have crowds of people camping in place two nights before for the jobs [1], you are paying too much.

[1] http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Chip-Johnson-Oakland-m... Too add insult to injury the people were chosen out of the crowd to get to apply, almost assuredly friends and family of existing fire fighters, but that's "just" a corruption issue, not the larger issue that demonstrates how much over market these rates are.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#69

Post by hollerith »

antonius wrote: post #5
alexnewman wrote: post #2

112k seems pretty high for entry level work, considering they most likely don't have a college education, but maybe it makes it possible for them to live here

You don't need any form of education (besides high school) to become a police officer? If true, that's pretty surprising to me.

In San Rafael, CA, you need a college degree to become a police officer.

Re: San Francisco Police Department: Duties, Salary and Benefits

#70

Post by nilkn »

nawitus wrote: post #37
pyrrhotech wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really 22 days---sick days are separate. Plus more holidays than typical in private work

Sick days are not vacation.

Tell that to companies that take your sick leave out of your vacation time.
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