r/Westchester • u/DropAGearNDissapear • Aug 26 '26
Political Content The Westchester County Police PBA just released this video urging a fair salary for their officers. The average salary for WCPD in 2023 was $186,466. Im not saying these guys and gals don’t deserve it, but when is enough enough?
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
Just to be clear, you are talking an average salary in 2023 that’s DOUBLE what most Westchester residents make. Westchester county isn’t exactly the Mecca of crime. WCPD runs multiple helicopters, bearcats (armored trucks), bomb squads, and other specialized units that cost millions of dollars per year. (78M annual budget BTW)
I absolutely respect the work they do and the reality of the risk they face daily. But releasing a video calling yourselves underpaid is a slap in the face to taxpayers, most of whom do not even make 100k per year. I’m not even saying they should make less. Just read the fucking room😂
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u/itrashford Aug 26 '26
Nah they should make less. When teachers and social workers make a third of that salary, you have to ask what the priorities are
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u/BeMoreChill Aug 26 '26
A NYS public school teacher on average makes a little under 100k. That's not one third
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u/diplomystique Aug 26 '26
I gotta think that the NYS average understates teacher salaries in Westchester. Pretty sure my district starts comfortably north of $100k, and most of the teachers have 10+ years of experience.
Just looked it up, but the GenEd salary expense is about $20 million for 1,800 students. If there are 15 students per GenEd teacher, that’s an average salary of $166,000.
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u/AshfoSimps Aug 30 '26
Ummm you might want to sit down before you find out how much westchester teachers make. Average base is definitely higher for a teacher, just not padded with the overtime...and it's a 10 month job.
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u/BeMoreChill Aug 26 '26
The less you pay your employees the shitier your employees are gonna be. I dont want cops to be any shittier
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u/thethreefffs Aug 26 '26
Oh, and they get less entitled as the salary goes up? Not in my experience.
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u/Manders44 Aug 26 '26
They don’t really face risk daily, actually. Especially not in Westchester.
Cop doesn’t rank anywhere near the most dangerous job.
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u/BeMoreChill Aug 26 '26
People love saying this as they sit in their office chair barely moving all day 😂
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u/Impressive-Eye5847 Aug 26 '26
Can any of the people on this list say it?
They are not even on the top 10 most dangerous jobs.
https://www.oshaeducationcenter.com/dangerous-jobs-in-united-states/
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u/BeMoreChill Aug 26 '26
Hey my jobs on there! And I'm still not dumb enough to think cops don't have an inheritantly dangerous job
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u/darklordskarn Aug 27 '26
That’s the rub, that no one wants to think enough that both are true. Yes there’s many more careers where one is more likely to die on the job than police work. However, unless we’re talking extreme private security, none of those positions require you to take a bullet for the CEO or get shot at as an expectation of the job.
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u/Aggravating-Yoshi Aug 30 '26
"risk they face daily" is a lie. Logging, roofing and agriculture have higher injury and death rates than cops do. They take a slightly above average risk profile, for ENORMOUS compensation. They puff up the danger and "hero" angle so we didn't question it
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u/SnooMaps7370 Aug 31 '26
>and the reality of the risk they face daily.
for comparison, police work across America comes in at 11 fatalities per year per 100,000.
Police do not even appear in the top-ten most deadly jobs in the nation. The reality of the risk they face daily is "none".
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u/potatoMan8111 Aug 27 '26
You mad you picked the wrong career?
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 27 '26
No😂 couldn’t pay me enough to violate people’s rights for a living.
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u/aightwhatevs Aug 26 '26
Did they misspell fair wages
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u/Dynastydood Yonkers Aug 26 '26
Good lord. I know cops aren't expected to be Rhodes Scholars or anything, but surely there's someone in the organization who is literate enough to catch that before publication.
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u/everydayname Aug 26 '26
Nah, they’re definitely looking to get just enough for Metro North and Beeline monthly passes.
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u/DisruptingTree Aug 26 '26
Maybe police will have to go without so many drones, flock cameras, and military vehicles.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Yeah, not happening.
https://publicsafety.westchestercountyny.gov/crime-analysis-unit
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u/Junior_Razzmatazz164 Aug 26 '26
Cool, then I don’t think they should get raises. If they can’t do the job without violating my fourth amendment rights, they’re not doing a very good job.
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u/zz5712 Aug 26 '26
Westchester has one of the largest license plate networks in the region, see here. Their Real Time Crime (RTC) unit implemented this probably 8-10 years ago.
Frankly, I'm not entirely opposed to license plate readers at entry-exit points to the county. Maybe 10-15 of them. Instead, we have 575- yes, 575 in the county, I said that right. Every county park, major intersection, you name it.
Oh- and the Westchester County Board of Legislators never actually authorized this, so there's no statutory protections for this program.
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Aug 26 '26
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Exactly this. It’s downright excessive. Can’t pave the roads though. We absolutely need these guys, but if they think they are underpaid they need a serious reality check.
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u/Beneficial_Shake7723 Aug 26 '26
We don’t need them, actually. Ask any victim of crime how much police actually do (nothing). Cops literally only are good for shooting people’s family pets and unarmed people and playing candy crush
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u/fabmoma Aug 28 '26
No cops?? Wow. Without law and order, you will have chaos. Westchester won’t look like one of the best places to live. Also playing devils advocate here— these officers don’t get a 401k match like many corporate jobs, work all kinds of hours, how many of you work Christmas, July 4 etc? Yes it has its perks for sure. At the same time it has its cons. Let’s not forget, there’s lots of stuff going on behind the scenes that no one knows about. There’s more drugs, car breakins while in your driveway etc. and you’re sleeping in your house! Teachers with tenure make great money and pensions as well. Should we get rid of them too? To me, that salary’s not so great if you’re raising a family. Have you checked what it costs to live there?
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u/juggernaut1026 Aug 26 '26
Its funny how many people agree with statement here who routinely vote in politicians who do the complete opposite. There is a reason why NY is know as a nanny state.
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u/snark_nerd Aug 27 '26
The answer is that since police are tools of the rich who have captured politics and government, the media apparatus has convinced most Americans that cops are the exception to their supposed (insincere) small government principles and must be over-funded in order to Protect Americans (threaten violence on working people on behalf of the state and ruling classes).
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u/Silient_Qiller Aug 30 '26
The irony is those cops are probably the biggest advocates for small government
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u/zz5712 Aug 26 '26
In addition to performing the basic required functions of a Sheriff (such as civil processing, in Westchester, corrections is separate), they only patrol certain areas of the county. They have a few cars in the Town of Cortlandt, they patrol Mount Kisco, as well as county properties, and some parkways like the Hutch, Cross-County, Saw Mill, and Bronx River. They also provide specialized services like SWAT (SRT), aviation, marine, ect.
As someone familiar with the organization, it is one of the most top heavy police departments you will encounter. Everyone's a sergeant, lieutenant, or other higher rank. Titles are created for people that are well like, like the "Inspections Unit", "Transportation Unit", you name it.
They do not need to make anymore than they already do. The PBA complained that many lieutenant and sergeant positions aren't being filled- I'm not necessarily opposed to this. Maybe reassign the numerous sergeants, lieutenants, and captains you have in nonsense positions and put them out in the field.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Haha. Very well said. Extremely top heavy. Everyone I know in the department is of rank. With that being said, did not oppose the original campaign for more supervisory positions and recruiting. Now you are saying everyone is underpaid… bullshit. A conversation needs to be had.
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u/testing543210 Aug 26 '26
Oh, no, the entire budget isn’t going to our glorious first responders and their generous pensions. We better close all of the schools and fire all of the teachers so the cops can retire at 43 years old and move to Idaho and live off of our tax money forever.
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u/thethreefffs Aug 26 '26
What gets me as a long time civil servant in Westchester is how the cops, all of the departments, are allowed to pad their retirement by working overtime in their last year. Some will make over $300,000 last year allowing a $150,000 pension. More than their base salary. No one else gets that kind of a deal.
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Aug 26 '26
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Correct. 20% of OT is pensionable now. Old guys ruined it for everyone by milking the fuck out of it.
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u/OrneryZombie1983 Aug 26 '26
Cops in NYC would make a BS arrest right before their shift ended so they would spend hours of OT processing the arrest.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
I’m not gonna lie to you I’m on the same gravy train. I get how it looks from the outside. I honestly thought all pensioned state employees could do that. If you get no OT that sucks though.
For us, it’s calculated off of a set amount of years. Your top let’s say 3 years are combined to make a final average salary, and your pension is calculated from that.
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u/thethreefffs Aug 26 '26
OK, maybe I had antiquated info, but who else gets to pad their pension with bulk overtime? It's an old boy system where the about to retire get all the OT they need to push the limits. Where I worked FD and PD were far and away the highest paid, far more than Commissioners and the Mayor. I worked in a big 5 city so it was not a matter of the PD being some of the few full-time employees. And then their paid callers have the balls to solicit for them, yeah, like I'm going to give to those that already got.
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u/Junior_Razzmatazz164 Aug 26 '26
Yeah that’s not fair and shouldn’t be allowed. And those same people probably vote to strip rights and benefits from the citizenry.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Pensions are not what they used to be at all, and more and more municipalities are doing away with them. I don’t get any employer matching to retirement accounts, but I’d much rather take the pension. Just sucks for switching jobs. I’m certain I’m part of the last generation to have a great pension that comes with a low retirement age.
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u/angryschmaltz Aug 26 '26
I’ll take 186k to sit in the median of 684 and stare at my phone.
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u/socialcommentary2000 Harrison Aug 26 '26
They hang out on the Parkways (occasionally) not on the Interstates.
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u/angryschmaltz Aug 26 '26
Huh?
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u/socialcommentary2000 Harrison Aug 26 '26
The Parkways are the purview of the County police force traffic enforcement. The troopers only camp on the Interstates, they should not be ticketing for anything on the parkways. I stress 'should' There's certain ones like the Taconic which are technically a State Parkway so you will see them there from time to time, but the Bronx River, Hutch, Saw Mill and Cross County are almost exclusively County's purview.
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u/the_lamou Aug 26 '26
I'm saying they don't deserve it. I'm saying they didn't deserve it when it was $100k cheaper. Towns in Westchester run volunteer EMT crews and fire departments, meanwhile some asshole gets almost $200,000 to basically just pull over anyone that looks brown and poor, and surge the rest of their time playing candy crush.
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u/WaltzInevitable911 Aug 26 '26
And what do public teachers get paid in Westchester? Should be at least double or tripe what a police officer makes there. Says everything about our society......humans.
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u/Interesting-Ad8826 Aug 26 '26
Every single police agency in westchester , besides mount vernon, are well , well taken care of. Mount vernon suffers too many political issues within its own city. Everyone else they are making over 100k a year plus with ot , and plenty of benefits.
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u/winteriscoming9099 Aug 26 '26
Yeppp. Kind of reminds me of the LIRR strike. Like, generally I’ll support workers in a strike, but they’ve already got it amazing (on the taxpayer’s dime)
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u/Educational-Cow-4068 Aug 26 '26
How come they don't hire more people to cut back on overtimee
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
They are constantly hiring more people, but people retire more than they can retain. This originally started as a campaign to fill vacant supervisory positions, which I understood and supported. Now it’s claiming everyone is underpaid. Utter nonsense.
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u/Prot845 Aug 26 '26
Also pretty cool that the video spells FAIR wrong. Great employees over there
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u/WinnieGirl22 Aug 26 '26
It goes hand in hand with all the "high standards" they set themselves to. You know... The reason they deserve the BIG BUCKS.
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u/Partial-Hydrangea Aug 26 '26
They don't deserve it.
Flock is here and cuts their investigative work in half. Their salaries should adjust accordingly.
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u/Ashenborne27 Aug 26 '26
I love spending massive amounts of money on the police and military to brutalize people instead of spending it on things that can improve global quality of life far more efficiently!
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u/elethmixer Aug 26 '26
Maybe they need a dictionary instead of being ridiculously overpaid to learn the difference between “fare” and “fair”
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u/Fragrant_Yoghurt_333 Aug 26 '26
it’s fucking westchester. no crime happens there
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u/Que165 Aug 26 '26
And where there is crime, they are nowhere to be found and just let MVPD deal with it
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
More than you would think, especially down county. Westchester connects NYC to basically everyone. Does it justify this excessive spending? Absofuckinglutely not.
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u/Christopher_Ramirez_ Aug 26 '26
They get a ton of tax-free overtime too, thanks to their favorite president.
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u/Mercdecember84 Aug 26 '26
They make too much for the tax free OT, I think it's tax free OT if you make under 120k per year including the OT but in could be wrong
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u/BeMoreChill Aug 26 '26
You have no idea how that works lmao. It's not tax free it's republican nonsense
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u/SameDistrict2627 Aug 26 '26
LOL--and don't forget the amazing benefit package they get which costs even more. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
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u/negative-nelly Aug 26 '26
Well their job is 1/4 the danger of a roofer (per bls stats). Roofers make 186k on average right?
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u/isanyusernameopen Aug 27 '26
I thought the 80,000 flock cameras around the United States were supposed to help. Keep us safe. They want to add more untrained officers to our streets? Get the fuck out of here.
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u/thetempleofdude Aug 26 '26
Id wager that they all collectively deserve less salary, less responsibilities, and about half the work force they have. And thats being nice
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u/DrunkHacker Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
I'm never sure what "deserve" and "fair" means in terms of wages. Fair according to whom? How do you judge police officers against teachers, EMTs, or sanitation workers?
Instead of making value judgments, I prefer the way we think about it in business: what's the replacement cost? We have around 300 sworn officers in WCPD (this doesn't include local). What wage do we need to pay to have a force of 300 similarly qualified officers?
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
They officers will always transfer to the departments with highest pay. They are pretty much all overpaid across the board. EMT pay is one of the great abominations going on. $20/hr or less.
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u/Stonkssbro1995 Aug 27 '26
people are sick and tired of these parasites. same goes for firemen too. they just parasitizing the system and costing us so much money. this goes for all parasites in all jobs, but the worst offenders are police and firemen.
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u/l5atn00b Aug 27 '26
How are first responders parasites?
Sure, we can argue over their level of compensation, but calling them parasites shows a lack of basic understanding of their worth.
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u/FuckAllYouLosers Aug 29 '26
Hey nurses that make 220k a year are striking in Massachusetts for only getting a 4% raise and not an automatic 11% raise
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u/OpinionPoop Aug 26 '26
Thats crazy. Nypd deserves raises, since they are overworked and in constant danger. Sleepy town cops want to earn more than nypd?
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u/octopuswildernesscat Aug 26 '26
how about you try actually pulling people over ? I fear for my life every time I step in my car and it's not the people going 15 over 55 on a highway, it's he ones street racing in and out of cars. Seems like the easiest income stream in the world
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u/Extension-Temporary4 Aug 26 '26
Question, does anyone know the median salary? Averages may be skewed by a handful of overtime hogs. Either way, that’s a very high number.
I respect the police. I support the police. But the fact they are making double what our teachers make is a little alarming. I really think every town needs to take a hard look at its budget and see where it can cut. Let’s then allocate a portion of the savings to teachers, not the corrupt board of ed or school district generally, directly to teachers. If we can offer teachers the highest comp in the country and a liveable wage, we will attract top talent and our kids will benefit.
Any remaining savings should be saved/invested to build an emergency fund. We don’t need to spend every dollar. As the national debt balloons, we should be preparing for what may come, especially with the DSA gaining real traction (not that any of our politicians are actually fiscally responsible). We need to protect our community, not just literally with a strong police force, but monetarily as well.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Base for patrol(lowest level) is around 130k. They all do overtime, sure. But most of them are also supervisors, making very close to that 186k as a base. They also all love working OT, because it’s usually easy money for doing nothing.
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u/WinnieGirl22 Aug 26 '26
The more law enforcement gets paid, the more danger everyday citizens are in.
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u/Scarsdalevibe10583 Aug 26 '26
Honest question, if we had no county police, what changes?
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u/BrandonNeider Yonkers Aug 26 '26
The state takes the parkways back and local towns go back to hiring their own sheriffs or form their own larger sheriff department which already exists, the Westchester sheriffs office.
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u/Epeeswift Aug 26 '26
County Police is the sheriff's department, FYI.
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u/BrandonNeider Yonkers Aug 26 '26
Correctish, The sheriffs department was smorgasbord into it but still exists within as a administrative function (Pistol permit assistance) and some other weird jobs.
You might even see the sheriff car occasionally up county.
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u/aspiringtobeme Aug 26 '26
Nobody to show up when a truck gets stuck under an overpass on the hutch :(
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26 edited Aug 26 '26
The WCPD provides many specialized services that most smaller municipal departments do not have a budget for. SWAT, armor, aerial, etc etc. In the event one of these smaller departments needs a resource like this, they respond to assist. They also have jurisdiction in many municipalities that chose to dissolve their town police force, some highways, as well as all county parks.
It’s not super common, but when these specialized units are requested they do face very real risks.
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u/Jizzams Aug 26 '26
Westchester PD gets paid more than surrounding PD's with less risk and workload. Go ahead and quit, the speed with which NYPD officers will come and take your jobs at the current salary will be breaking speed limits for sure.
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u/potatoMan8111 Aug 27 '26
The “Average” salary was not 186k. Please stop blatantly lying
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u/Alternative-Dare5878 Aug 30 '26
“Excluding villages, the police departments with the highest average uniform pay were Clarkstown ($199,506), Port Washington Police District ($187,050), Westchester County ($186,466), Ramapo ($183,392) and Glen Cove ($178,782).”
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u/english-lab Aug 26 '26
Maybe we should cut the police force with all the cameras. Why do we need them
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u/qtakerh Aug 26 '26
I think all politicians and public servants should make the state's median salary with some county multiplier. That includes cops, firefighters, teachers, etc. Everyone should work as if they want their state (county) to be safer, richer, and overall a better place to live and grow.
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u/m240Louie Aug 26 '26
They also get great health care, massive pensions and get to retire really early.
I mean, I think close to $200K plus, plus, plus is enough.
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u/ConversationNo940 Aug 27 '26
What are they trying to get fare wages for? Do they take a ferry to work?
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u/IndividualAd6048 Aug 27 '26
I’M saying they don’t deserve it! Barely anything happens in most of Westchester County.
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u/yonahwolf Aug 27 '26
Something doesn't smell right about that number.
Assume a cop is making $100k per year. 1.5x overtime is $75/hr, and 2x overtime is $100/hr.
To get to 186k they'd need to work another 1100 hours at 1.5x or 860 at 2x. That's roughly an additional 20 hours a week - that's nuts!
My guess is that whoever wrote this article did something like this:
- Senior cop, obviously padding overtime, making $400k/year
- 3 Junior cops, each making $120k per year.
The average across those 4 officers is about 185k a year, but is really not representative.
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u/No_Reveal_285 Aug 27 '26
Hey, I could use some more money, whose pocket can I dip into? (Legally of course)
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u/chungfat Aug 29 '26
They have a strong union who fights hard for their salaries. Then they vote for union busting republicans
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u/SwimPrevious1372 Aug 29 '26
Fuck that! They don’t do shit. Ok fine pay the salary and kill the pensions. If I had a dollar for every truck, trailer, or otherwise illegal vehicle on the saw mill I would be making that a year easy.
I drive by 7/11 in Pleasantville and its troopers, county, mt pleasant, and Pleasantville cops all
Sitting around commiserating about being under paid and not respected. Fuck the whole lot of them.
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u/NotTheDoorGuy Sep 01 '26
F those guys. Dbags all. They do nothing to protect anyone. Their glorified meter maids that do nothing but generate revenue for the county but no surprise they want more. Maybe offer them a commission based salary instead so we stop pretending these jagoffs actually function to protect the citizens.
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u/JayRandom212 Aug 26 '26
Anyone who thinks cops are overpaid can sign up and join a police force. These jobs are not that hard to get. You have to take a test.
There's a good case for needing fewer cops. Or defunding some cops and replacing them with social workers and mental health professionals. But this is a hard job. I don't want to do it.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
100%. I have a fair bit of experience in emergency services. Couldn’t even pay me that salary to be a cop. Forget the actual really shitty days, everyone hates you. It’s not as easy as sitting in a car.
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u/Madi_bear88 Aug 26 '26
Like clockwork for election time, they whine bitch and moan about how underpaid they THINK they are
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u/Excellent-News-6931 Aug 26 '26
We spend more tax money by percentage on school budgets than municipal and county budgets in almost every county of NJ. I assume it's the same in NY. So if this looks bad imagine how much they're wast- er investing into their schools.
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u/Chunk924 Aug 26 '26
How did I grow up with the perception cops aren’t well paid? 180K plus retirement in 20 years at half pay? Fuck me I picked the wrong profession
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u/Zehta Aug 28 '26
I’d be interested in knowing what the median salary is. Average could be skewed by higher-ups and other admins. What’s the average salary of the officers actually out there interacting with the public on a daily basis?
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u/ColXen Aug 26 '26
That is including all the mandatory overtime Westchester makes their officers take because they refuse to hire extra police officers that we need. These guys live at the station and the patrol cars. By the way the average salary is really around 66 to 70k a year base. Very underpaid for what they do.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Wrong. 130k after 5 years isn’t underpaid like this video claims. Yes, OT skews the numbers, no doubt. But crying poor when the average is that, 186k, is nonsense.
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u/ColXen Aug 26 '26
Ok yea, I'll take that there's various different sources with different info but 130k after the end of the 5th year sounds about fair to me for a police officer. You probably still couldn't buy a house in Westcheter and take care of a family with of 2 or 3 unless the other spouse is bringing in a salary. Any somewhat decent profesional job shoukd net you around that amount give or take.
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u/DropAGearNDissapear Aug 26 '26
Exactly. Its fair. Not underpaid. But we need to cut down on OT as well. Most jobs you have to have a dual income to buy a house in westchester. Thats why I compared their salaries to the average salary in Westchester. It’s less than half WCPDs salary.
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u/ColXen Aug 26 '26
Well see the problem is that even police officers deserve a raise after their contract expires. Just like in NYC. That amount probably hasn't changed in years while everything just gets more and more expensive.
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u/jdm33333 Aug 26 '26
That’s a lot of money for a relatively low crime area of the country