Louisiana State Police

[zoe10850]

Anyone aware of the pay scales of Louisiana State Police, their retirement benefits, and the cost to the taxpayers of this state ? I for one, believe in paying police officers a decent salary, however, the LSP have been quietly raising salaries and benefits to the point of excessive. Starting pay is now $36,000 for a guy fresh out of academy. There will be an attempt in legislative session to increase to $44,000 starting pay. This will increase the entire scale to the point that ranking troopers (Captain and majors) will be making over $100,000 per year. The Governor "only" makes $75,000.

Couple this with retirement costs and see where this is leading. The retirement "match" paid by the state is over 70%. That means for every $1,000 in salary paid, the retirement cost is $750.00.

Who is going to pay for that ? Then there is the ripple effect on salaries at local levels. Where will this money come from in the future ?

[SeleR]

Would the fact that these fellows drive the legislators and governor all over, provide security at the governors houses, and do other favors that we probably would rather not know about have anything to do with that ?

I saw an ad placed by our Sheriff seeking potential employees in the jail and offering I believe $2200 a month. No wonder there is a shortage of jailers. That cannot be a pleasant job dealing with all sort of characters. How can we pay someone who issues traffic tickets over $40,000 and someone who keeps an eye on convicted criminals $25,000? Seems to be a flaw in logic there.

[TBEAR]

There is a shortage of deputies in general. That is chicken feed pay for the cost of living in lafayette, which has increased over the last few years dramatically. Trash truck drivers are making more than that and with the oilfield being short of workers and paying a hell of alot more, you will not get any quality workers to go to work for that amount. Local Law Enforcment officals better wake up and realize this is happening or it will end in disaster.