Police/Security Wages

[N. A. Corbier]

Constable is what we would call a Police Officer. In the UK, they keep the Police before the Constable. (PC Bob Smith)

[Mall Director]

Thats a good question to be very honest.. I think it varies from state to state and country to country. Everytime I hear of a constable, it has been refered to a LE type operating in a sparce community.

[Chucky]

Hate to sound ignorant but what is a Constable? I'm sure we have them just called something else maybe.

[Christopherstjo]

Our inhouse rates beat that

You bring up a good point in that "inhouse security" often times are paid more than that of contract security on top of getting better benefits, as well as perks.

[Eric]

An Ontario government web site http://onestep.on.ca/ows/Ows99_Eng/6651_ON_e.html
lists averages from a survey.

I started in Security (1981)at 4.25/hour and minimum wage was just under 4.
The minimum wage now is 8.00/hour, from what I see, many Contracts are paying 8 - 11 / hour.
Our inhouse rates beat that.

The Provincial Police here follow this chart -
Position Service Time Salary (per year)
Cadet $ 31,491.00
Probationary Constable 0 – 12 months $ 40,470.00
Constable 12 – 18 months $ 51,600.00
18 – 24 months $ 58,975.00
24 – 36 months $ 65,610.00
36 months to 7 years $ 73,714.00

[SecTrainer]

SecTrainer your points are well taken. Starting pay for a deputy sheriff in 1968 was $4,800 per year and constable $4,500 per year. I have no idea what security guards made when employed full time.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

Lord, it sounds like you and I hail from the same era! I left LE when my third son came along and, like his brothers before him, insisted on eating. I thought this was inconsiderate of him in the extreme, given the cost of food and my wages. What did he think, that food grows on trees?

My wife, who had already become very handy with her little Beretta thanks to my coaching (don't do it, men), began to practice with it more. I would catch her looking at me in that speculative way (you know what I mean), as if she had something on her mind, and she began talking about how fast college costs were rising. When she started asking questions about my life insurance....well, I'm not so thick that I couldn't catch the hint.

I went to the City Council and requested a 400% increase in my salary, or I'd walk. They were very nice about it, but the best offer they made was the price of a good pair of walking shoes, along with their fond best wishes and the hope that I would be happy in my next job. Fortunately, I was both happier and better paid.

[Bill Warnock]

SecTrainer your points are well taken. Starting pay for a deputy sheriff in 1968 was $4,800 per year and constable $4,500 per year. I have no idea what security guards made when employed full time.
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[SecTrainer]

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.