Last semester, one of my classes was a small upper level class mostly filled seniors. In the first few minutes of class, I would often grill them about their job prospects or offer interviewing tips. One kid, a smart, but slackery type, was unsure about his future after school. At first he thought he would be a cop; later, he switched to a lobbyist. One day he came into class with a big smile on his face. He had found his calling.
At the campus job fair, he was hired to inspect houses for towns doing tax reappraisals. He’s going to make $58,000 per year to count bathrooms and porches. Which is a whole lot more than I’ll make this year.
According to today’s Times, my slackery friend could have made even more as a cop on Long Island. In Suffolk County, the starting salary is $57,811 and rises up to $97,737 after five years. And all the donuts you can eat.
What have I done with my life?
Apt. 11d 
I’m sure the cops have a good union. If the housing inspectors are municipal or state workers, they probably have good unions, too. I’ve yet to meet an employer who gives out money hand over fist just because it makes him or her feel good.
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Wow, that does seem excessive.
My assumption is that this kid was not studying home inspection at college, and that he’s going in pretty close to unskilled labor. So if you can teach him how to do home inspection in a couple of weeks, how is that worth $58K a year? I live in Chicago and I know that not everyone’s as corrupt as we are here, but this sounds like the kind of job only the mayor’s kid can get.
Now cops I can understand more. Any job where you can get shot — hey, you deserve a better salary.
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Laura,
You cna;t fault cops and their pay. They are exposed to the dregs of society day in and day out. And while 97K seems like a grand number, Long Island ain;t cheap. If it were somewhere that cost of living wasn;t as high as it is in Metro NYC then yeah this would rock. But what happens is that supply of labor for this job increases? It begins allowing for the cop managment to add extra demands onto the people who want or are currenlty in these roles. I’d be willing to guess that the average cop is on the job for 3-4 years and then gets out of it or they are a lifer and put in their 20.
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No, I don’t begrudge them their money, though I have to admit that it smarts that a PhD doesn’t pull in that kind of money.
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It’s just a matter of supply and demand. Apparently there are more PhD’s than people willing to be a cop. But take heart, it’s not too late for you; police forces generally have three admissions lists (white male, female and nonwhite males). They pick the top three candidates from each list and rotate through the three until they have a new class of recruits. My husband (white male) applied for admission to a police academy in a medium-large midwest city at age 47, after a career as a chemical/nuclear engineer (laid off, did not want to move due to special needs child issues). After 26 weeks of physical and acedemic training, he graduated with a payrate of $22 per hour. After 3 years he makes $26 per hour. The engineering paid about $50 per hour.
No one’s getting rich here, but we have maintained our lifestyle in a pared down fashion, and have been able to keep the kids stable. His job is mostly acting as counselor/referee for ignorant deceitful people, with a hefty dose of bureaucratic crap thrown it. Benefits are good, particularly if he can stick it out to age 62 (need 15 years minimum at his age to get any retirement). Overtime is paid, as is court time, but it adds up to a lot of hours.
The political correctness and paperwork can be overwhelming; at least my husband had the advantage of a previous career that required the same type of discipline. Some of his younger colleagues struggle with the peperwork minutia and endless contradictions from having numerous bosses. During his admission process we were visited by a counselor who interviewed us as a couple and told us the alcoholism and divorce rate for cops was way above average.
So being a cop, just like your job or anyone else’s, has it’s good and bad points. But if there weren’t a lot of people wanting your job, they would have to pay you more.
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