Baltimore police are complaining about cuts to their pay and to their pension, and are loudly protesting City Hall. Baltimore leaders are cheering that they closed a $121 million budget deficit without laying cops off.
They point to New Jersey, where cops by the hundreds have lost their jobs to dire economic times, and police unions there say crime is soaring as a result. Today's Crime Scenes gets into the debate in more detail, and notes the release of the Maryland State Police annual law enforcement salary survey.
In the 1990, Baltimore police officers were among the lowest paid cops in the state, earning starting salaries of about $28,000. An academy graduate in the city now gets $42,290 a year, still in a low tier. They're ahead of state troopers and cops in Anne Arundel and Charles counties but below police in Baltimore, Howard and Harford counties.
Above, the president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police union, Robert F. Cherry, leads a protest outside City Hall. For more details:
But the salary discrepancy at career's start is minimal, a little more than $4,000 lower than in Baltimore County, which has the highest starting salary in the Baltimore area. City officers, however, lose considerable ground as their career grows, according to the Maryland State Police 2010 Salary and Benefits Survey report.
Let's say you work in the city and you're promoted to lieutenant, the highest civil service rank. The minimum starting salary is $68,630, which is more than the $66,135 you'd make in Baltimore County. But in the city, it would take you 25 years to earn $90,365. In county, it would take you seven years to earn $134,821.
It is certainly true that that it's harder to make lieutenant in Baltimore County and in Baltimore City, which is roughly double the size and has many more openings and opportunities. But look at someone who spends a career with rank of officer. The city cop tops out at $68,523 after putting in 25 years at that rank, while it would take a county officer nine years to earn $96,143.