That's right, all Manhattan home prices are going to git bid up by New JErsey cops! N.J. police salaries rank highest in nation with median pay of $90,672 Officer Vincent Aiello guides his patrol cruiser slowly down the leafy main drag of this quiet Bergen County town, past the coffee shop, the hair salon and the boutiques. He is also working in the state with the highest-paid police in the... [more]
That's right, all Manhattan home prices are going to git bid up by New JErsey cops!
N.J. police salaries rank highest in nation with median pay of $90,672
Officer Vincent Aiello guides his patrol cruiser slowly down the leafy main drag of this quiet Bergen County town, past the coffee shop, the hair salon and the boutiques.
He is also working in the state with the highest-paid police in the country. Last year, Closter had the sixth-best-paid department in New Jersey, with a median salary of $122,181 before overtime. Seventeen of its 20 officers, including Aiello, made at least $100,000.
A Star-Ledger analysis shows the average municipal cop in New Jersey is paid 80 percent more than the average resident, and three of 10 made at least $100,000 last year.
The median salary for the state’s 20,525 municipal officers was $90,672 last year, meaning half earned more and half earned less.
A total of 6,198 municipal officers made at least $100,000 last year. Ninety-nine of 466 towns that pay police have six-figure median salaries. Most are in North Jersey, primarily Bergen County.
"Any police officer that says they’re not making enough money needs to re-examine themselves," said Saddle Brook Township Police Chief Robert Kugler. In that Bergen County town, 30 of 31 officers made six figures last year, and the median salary was $121,177.
The median salary for municipal police in Bergen County, $109,700, was 60 percent higher than the median salary in Salem County, $68,792, the lowest in the state.
In Bergen County, 59 of 68 towns have median police salaries above $100,000. The highest median pay in the state was $134,132 in Rochelle Park, where 19 cops patrol a one-square-mile borough near the intersection of the Garden State Parkway and Route 80.
Last year, Closter police earned a total of $157,190 in overtime,Chief David Berrian said, about $7,859 per officer.
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Just last week, Gov. Chris Christie proposed more cuts to benefits for public employees, including police. Possible changes include rolling back a 9 percent pension increase from 2001 and requiring cops to serve more years to get the same pensions.
But so far schools have been the primary flash point, and Christie has directed his harshest rhetoric toward the teachers union and demanded that teachers forgo pay raises.
So far police have escaped similar pressure on salaries even though they also accrue regular raises, leading one lobbyist to describe them as a protected class.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/nj_police_salaries_rank_highes.html
And more proof that Christie is such a hypocrite:
Just last week, Gov. Chris Christie proposed more cuts to benefits for public employees, including police. Possible changes include rolling back a 9 percent pension increase from 2001 and requiring cops to serve more years to get the same pensions.
But so far schools have been the primary flash point, and Christie has directed his harshest rhetoric toward the teachers union and demanded that teachers forgo pay raises.
So far police have escaped similar pressure on salaries even though they also accrue regular raises, leading one lobbyist to describe them as a protected class.