New Police Officers Wanted

Step right up! Put your life on the line for $49,000. Have your hands tied by a raving public and sycophant politicians. Be ready to have your life ruined if anybody doesn't like what you did. Be reviled in the press along with your family and lose all your privacy. Step right up!

Soon. Police will be making over 100K per year. This will be the only way you will get candidates. Or the State will take over and officers will be assigned to cities on a rotating basis. A week in the suburbs then a week in the urban areas

Put up or shut up time.
Residents who can measure up to our trusted, yes trusted, leadership at the NHPD, go for it !
This is how you create "change".
You step up.
No half-stepping when it's 6pm on a Friday.
Let's see what "the community" has to offer.
If you aren't giving, you're a taker.
Apply if you believe you can do better.

Police already make over $100K per year with overtime, shift differentials, etc. The starting pay is about the same as a teacher, while teachers are required to pay most of their way to certification (the exception being the subsidy all who attend state schools receive). That said, New Haven does start substantially less than many suburbs. I believe Branford is about $65k or more. The greatest problem I see know is the professionalization of police departments, with a preference for criminal justice degrees over community ties. The result is police who are emotionally detached from the communities they serve. They are mercenaries, its just a job, to them, so they protect and serve themselves. The 21-year-old age limit also means that there is a gap between high school graduation and possible employment. We used to hire non-college bond men (yes, it was almost always men), straight out of high school, and volunteer firefighters could start at 16.

I would rather go to Iraq and walk down the street holding an American flag...$49000 to do what these men and woman do?? NO WAY!

Most of those who denigrate the police could not withstand the scrutiny of the selection process, including our elected representatives. Then again, it's easier to sit on the sidelines and snipe than it is to act and put yourself on the line.

It would be helpful if the NHI could add some more detailed compensation figures.. it starts at 49,000.. what is the average salary after 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and 30 years (with and without OT) ? what is the average pension?

If the NHI has already provided this info in another article, could you provide a link?

[Reporter's note: Thanks very much for the question! PDF page 52 of the police union contract, which can be read here (https://www.newhavenct.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=35806#page=52), includes additional details on NHPD pay.]

If New Haven residents join the police department, they may help change the biases of the other officers they work with over time. But they may find the current policies and procedures and attitudes of the department make it difficult for a rookie officer to succeed in the job unless they buy into the program in its current form. The more local city folk who join, the more you can help change things from within, but much needs to be done to transform policing from an "us versus them" punitive mentality to a protect and serve with community coordination, to not punish the mentally ill, homeless, addicted, or other social ills that would be better handled by social services team that could work with the police department to get people the help they need. We also need to recognize that the work that we ask our police to perform causes tremendous stress and strain, and provide a regular mental health fitness review and counseling and support to address any stress, anxiety, depression and moral injury or ptsd that our police, firefighters and paramedics/EMTs may suffer as a result of the work they do every day. By addressing these issues on a regular basis as part of the job, we can create a more humane police system that benefits everyone.

https://www.newhavenct.gov/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=35806

Page 49 of the contract

Commander $105,896
Captain $102,266
Chief Investigator $97,133
Superintendent $94,522
Lieutenant $93,158
Sergeant $83,582
Detective – Tier 1 $79,166
Detective – Tier 2 $80,353
Detective – Tier 3 $82,362
Police Officer $74,290
Police Officer 2nd (1st year) $48,300
Police Officer 2nd (2nd year) $57,356
7/1/20 – 6/30/21

What you can't see in these salaries is the extremely high percentages Police pay into the Police and Fireman's Pension Fund. 165 Church regularly hires new staff at $58k and above. Just check the City Weekly Personnel Action Reports. I encourage every resident to request these weekly reports from Human Resources - no FOI needed. It is a weekly circulated public document which lists the new hires and salaries.

Last piece to chew on - no one wants a career without their pension or financial stability attached to it when they make it to retirement age. Being a policeman in a Biden Admin would mean your pay would be cut over time, not increased, pension contributions would be even higher from your paycheck and your eventual pension check would be meager at best.

But - if you become a cop, you get all the free spit you want, objects thrown at you as souvenirs, the promise of a meager pension, decreases in pay, death threats, threats to have you food poisoned, racial accusations, profanity galore, disrespect from the media, disdain from the public, no ability to use force and best of all - misinformation spread by those who gobble MSNBC's diatribe like Jim Jones Kool Aid Slush Puppies.

It's fun to denigrate the police - until you need one to show up. Hopefully with more bullets than the person threatening you has.

Or maybe the fine professionals all over the City of New Haven will send a social worker to talk to the person that broke into your home and tied you and your family up.

None of this matters under One Term Justin anyway....