Is my Brother in law lying?

Submitted by Specialist-Artistic t3_zukyat in newjersey

Hello. My brother in law is a Sargent in the police force. I don’t really talk to him much but always talks money. He recently got promoted to Sarg and is telling me he makes 187k a year. He works in elmwood park. This can’t be real? I work in tech and I was pretty blown alway by this salary. Any cops who can help?

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love2Vax t1_j1jwjkg wrote

With OT this is not surprising at all.

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Artystrong1 t1_j1jziin wrote

Depending on his salery it's deff possible.

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[deleted] t1_j1k5cld wrote

If he's a detective bringing a lot of cases to court or good overtime hours, he can certainly clock those numbers.

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soiboughtafarm t1_j1k7uf6 wrote

Haha now for some real fun ask him when he plans on retiring and what his pension will be. —- you might want to prepare yourself because your not going to like the answer.

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Skerppp t1_j1kcvm4 wrote

For Elmwood park that sounds about right. Cops generally make a lot in Bergen county. However, you do have to consider they pay a solid chunk of their salary into the pension and another couple hundred a month in union dues… working holidays, weekends and nights isn’t fun either

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Skerppp t1_j1kdnl8 wrote

https://projects.nj.com/paycheck/

This is the 2019 Nj.com Police salary database btw. If a salary seems insanely high (over 200k) it’s probably because it’s a high ranking supervisor with some kind of sick time or vacation time buy back upon retirement where they cash out a ton of unused hours. If the salary seems unreasonably low it’s prob cause the cop didn’t work the entire year at that department. Keep in mind a lot of this includes tons of hours of overtime or outside employment

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YetiBeachRainbow t1_j1ku1jt wrote

Given his job alone I’m sure he is lying- It’s required.

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BigDomSr t1_j1lp66n wrote

And health benefits and an exorbitant retirement salary until death, after 20 years on the job.

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orchid_9 t1_j1lt90k wrote

Lol I personally knew a detective in a small suburban town with majority of middle class residents and he drove a Porsche suv so I 100% believe your brother in laws salary

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BF_2 t1_j1lts0u wrote

I'm going to remain neutral on whether police should get salaries (including OT) this high, but I would like to point out that a primary reason that they do get salaries this high is because they are unionized. Think about it.

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_TommySalami t1_j1m072n wrote

It’s true. The Port Authority police used to give all the OT to the cops getting ready for retirement, so their salary was $250k and the pension matched it, so we pay them $250k while they work security for a school for 20 years and get another pension.

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Skerppp t1_j1m4g3u wrote

Replying to BigDomSr (#1,053,203)

30 years, not 20.. And some towns aren’t giving health insurance to retirees anymore. The 30 year pension is also meant to push people to retire before they are too old. None of us want 60 something year old boomer cops out there

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Skerppp t1_j1m4u2s wrote

Replying to _TommySalami (#1,054,575)

The pension is 50-65% of the salary when they retire, based on total years worked. At 20 years in the New York pension system they will retire with 50% of the final salary, which does not include overtime. Port authority is in the New York pension. So if you retire at 50 years old with 20 years as a port authority cop making 110k, you will collect a pension of 55k per year… but yes you can get another job after you retire

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Banana_bride t1_j1mjn3s wrote

Replying to Skerppp (#1,047,581)

I have a lot of cops in my family- they can make a lot but they do work A LOT, too. All that over time is time away. Just something to consider. K prefer my lower salary for working 10 months of the year. To each their own though!

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Reedster52 t1_j1mudll wrote

I’m closely related to a police officer and this sounds about right for the area, especially if you calculate OT.

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Senior-Sharpie t1_j1n6ksq wrote

And that isn’t really the most outrageous part, after 20 years of service he can retire with 1/2 pay and medical for life while your town will hire a replacement which starts the process over again. The retiree is free to take another town/ city govt. job and acquire another pension. Now you understand how normal working people are forced to sell their homes when they retire because they can no longer afford living in their towns and are forced to find a cheaper place to live.

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