The problem really isn’t salary, well top salary at least. Any cop will tell you that once you reach top pay you are going to be well over 6 figures even with minimal overtime. All city agencies make their money in overtime, it’s no secret. So how much you make as a cop is entirely up to you. But even bare minimum will be over 100.

The problem is eating shit for 5 years until you get to top pay. And the raise increments are very back loaded so you really don’t start seeing anything meaningful until year 4. And there’s a huge percentage that don’t even make it that point for a bunch of different reasons. That’s why when you look at average salary it’s so low. But if you look at someone who’s been in nypd for let’s say 7-10 years (go ahead out there name in on seethroughny.com and test if you’d like) their salary will be over 125k guaranteed.

Regardless, salary is not the reason why the nypd is an unattractive job. Just look at how people treat and feel towards police. You can join any other city agency, make just as much, work less/ not as hard, and not be hated by your community.