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I was just over on Officer.com reading some posts and came across some discussions that I thought might be of interest to this group.
SALARIES: I think that many of us probably subscribe to the notion that police salaries are markedly higher than security salaries...and to be sure, there are parts of the country where this is certainly very true - especially on either coast and in certain other places as well. In these areas, the PO's starting hourly wage can range from $25 to over $40 (plus-minus $80K per year)! Amazing.
However, there are also parts of the country where the starting hourly wage for a police officer or sheriff's deputy is $10 (certain counties in Missouri, for instance) and it doesn't rise very far or very fast from there, topping out at around $16.
DUTIES: I think many of us also believe that the PO's duties are necessarily more interesting and/or exciting than the SO's...and, again, there are certainly places where the PO gets more "excitement" in one week than many SO's will see in a lifetime.
However, you'll also find PO's complaining about long, boring shifts, "ancillary" duties that sound very much like security duties (sitting outside a bank every night from X:00 to Y:00; standing by at city council meetings; checking the courthouse or the water plant to make sure it's locked; having a captain at the station checking the GPS screen to make sure your car is always moving, etc., etc.
Sometimes I myself forget how boring my job in LE was at times, and some of the crap duty you sometimes had to do - like shuttling squads to the city shop for service, taking "urgent" papers to the home of a city councilman, waiting for 45 minutes behind an abandoned car for the wrecker to come, blocking traffic so people wouldn't drive into a newly-developed sinkhole in the road, and most of the things mentioned in the paragraph above as well.
RESPECT: Most of us also think cops are highly respected...and, with a certain segment of society that's no doubt true.
However, the question also must be asked: If cops are so respected, how come they have to fight so much? Sure, some of that might be the officer's own fault (which is why experienced POs will tell you there are guys on the force who are always fighting and others who rarely have to fight), but it's not hard to find posts on O.com about perps (and others who might surprise you) who basically say "Screw you" to the cops when they're given an order or asked a question, and who will either run, laugh in the PO's face, or punch him in the nose as soon as look at him.
So...like most generalizations, the ones I've mentioned above are not universally true and some SO's actually have it better than some POs. My guess would be that the "gaps" I've mentioned will probably continue to close, maybe never completely, but to a significant degree. There's good reason to keep on improving yourself, adding to your skills, obtaining certifications, and, much as I hate to advocate "job-hopping", you have to keep looking for those jobs in security that do offer opportunities for advancement, education, training and, of course, increased responsibility because an increased level of responsibility is usually the single most important factor in obtaining a better wage, more interesting duties and a greater degree of respect for what you do.
SALARIES: I think that many of us probably subscribe to the notion that police salaries are markedly higher than security salaries...and to be sure, there are parts of the country where this is certainly very true - especially on either coast and in certain other places as well. In these areas, the PO's starting hourly wage can range from $25 to over $40 (plus-minus $80K per year)! Amazing.
However, there are also parts of the country where the starting hourly wage for a police officer or sheriff's deputy is $10 (certain counties in Missouri, for instance) and it doesn't rise very far or very fast from there, topping out at around $16.
DUTIES: I think many of us also believe that the PO's duties are necessarily more interesting and/or exciting than the SO's...and, again, there are certainly places where the PO gets more "excitement" in one week than many SO's will see in a lifetime.
However, you'll also find PO's complaining about long, boring shifts, "ancillary" duties that sound very much like security duties (sitting outside a bank every night from X:00 to Y:00; standing by at city council meetings; checking the courthouse or the water plant to make sure it's locked; having a captain at the station checking the GPS screen to make sure your car is always moving, etc., etc.
Sometimes I myself forget how boring my job in LE was at times, and some of the crap duty you sometimes had to do - like shuttling squads to the city shop for service, taking "urgent" papers to the home of a city councilman, waiting for 45 minutes behind an abandoned car for the wrecker to come, blocking traffic so people wouldn't drive into a newly-developed sinkhole in the road, and most of the things mentioned in the paragraph above as well.
RESPECT: Most of us also think cops are highly respected...and, with a certain segment of society that's no doubt true.
However, the question also must be asked: If cops are so respected, how come they have to fight so much? Sure, some of that might be the officer's own fault (which is why experienced POs will tell you there are guys on the force who are always fighting and others who rarely have to fight), but it's not hard to find posts on O.com about perps (and others who might surprise you) who basically say "Screw you" to the cops when they're given an order or asked a question, and who will either run, laugh in the PO's face, or punch him in the nose as soon as look at him.
So...like most generalizations, the ones I've mentioned above are not universally true and some SO's actually have it better than some POs. My guess would be that the "gaps" I've mentioned will probably continue to close, maybe never completely, but to a significant degree. There's good reason to keep on improving yourself, adding to your skills, obtaining certifications, and, much as I hate to advocate "job-hopping", you have to keep looking for those jobs in security that do offer opportunities for advancement, education, training and, of course, increased responsibility because an increased level of responsibility is usually the single most important factor in obtaining a better wage, more interesting duties and a greater degree of respect for what you do.
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