Originally Posted by
Section 107
Oh, that's not so difficult. Most jurisdictions also only require a HS diploma for police officer and firefighter jobs. Step 1 for a BART cop is more than $75,000 per year and that is just base pay (don't believe me? check out page 96 of their contract:
http://www.bart.gov/sites/default/fi...02013-2018.pdf
0.)
Don't forget that does not include any shift pay (7% to 9.5% more/hr extra); guaranteed overtime; standby, call back, court, and roll call pay; clothing allowances ($1,000/year); 5% /hr bump for being a training officer; kiss butt enough to get listed as a "Master" Police Officer and get an additional 2% increase in base pay; or any other premium pay ($3,000 for special assignment) and cool things like $50/month for gym health club membership, regularly scheduled 3-day weekends, unlimited free rides for spouse and kids on the BART system including in retirement; and much more even before including all value of the regular benefits (health, life, retirement, etc).
Now, BART is a admittedly at the top end - but not that far off from most big city/big county pay. All for a HS diploma......
Aren't both salaries and cost of living pretty much out of kilter in the Bay area?
I check Dallas PD. Starting salary is about $42,900 after completeing the police academy's 36 week training course.
In most cases some college is required but can be offset by if an applicant is already a certified peace office. From the DPD pages:
http://www.dallaspolice.net/joindpd/...fications.aspx- Applicants that are 19 and 20 years of age must have a minimum of 60 semester college hours with a 2.0 GPA from an accredited college or university.* Remedial or developmental courses do not count towards the total college hours.
- Applicants between 21 and 44 years of age must have a minimum of 45 semester college hours with a 2.0 GPA from an accredited college or university.* Remedial or developmental courses do not count towards the total college hours.
So a few dollars an hour higher pay but not substantially more than a starting TSA screener and much more training and education is require, not to mention that being a police officer anywhere is much more dangerous than being a TSA screener.