Cop Killers and Killer Cops

[accadacca]

Crazy stuff happening in Dallas. Major backlash. Unbelievable...

[Iceaxe]

You couldn't pay me enough to be a cop in the current environment.

[accadacca]

I just don't think there are enough good people that want to be cops. The few bad ones make all the good ones look bad.

[Iceaxe]

Yeah, that's a big problem. Every asshole dirtbag I knew I high school became a cop.

[rich67]

Problem is the pay. You get what you pay for. When the average starting salary of a law enforcement officer is under $40k a year, and most of the agencies want people with college degrees. When a person with a college degree can find a job for $50k-60k a year to start (with a good degree, that is), they will opt for a private sector job any day of the week. The people who apply at agencies are people that are not marketable or TRULY want to help their communities. There's a huge disparity. Look at places like Miami PD, who back in the 80's opened up hiring went lax on their hiring requirements. The corruption in the years following was rampant. And remember, the police salary is gross, and doesn't include required health insurance (which is VERY expensive for the public sector), paying into their retirement, and in some cases union dues and other incidentals, including supplementary retirement. This brings them down to maybe $16 an hour. Not many people want to get shot at for that money... and you end up attracting people who are desperate for any job, after they lost theirs or got laid off.