The average salary for Minnesota police officers is higher than the national average, yet some departments still have unspent salary funds.
Minnesota police and sheriff’s patrol officers receive a
median salary of $57,410 annually, LawEnforcementEDU.net reported, citing 2012-13 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Supervisors of police earn $79,800 while detectives and criminal investigators receive $66,330 every year.
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The average salary for a police officer in Minnesota is $25,000,
Indeed reported.
According to the BLS, these wages are above the national median pay given to police officers.
There is money left over as well, and South St. Paul Police Chief William Messerich has plans for it: to
purchase protective riot equipment, the Star Tribune reported.
Messerich’s officers carried batons that were holdovers from the 1970s meatpacking industry strikes while assisting Bloomington police at a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the Mall of America earlier this year.
Other than that, the department holds possession of six riot helmets from the 2008 Republican National Convention. That is the extent of their equipment.
With the instances in Ferguson, Missouri, New York, and Baltimore occurring, Messerich told the Tribune he believes there is a need to purchase up to $34,000 in new gear.
“Our officers aren’t really protected for that,” Messerich told the newspaper. “I think every police officer needs to be protected. These types of things happen everywhere.”
The department is looking into purchasing 10 ballistic shields worth $1,200 to $2,000 each, 17 rifle protection plate vests to be stored in police vehicles, and 28 ballistic helmets valued at about $500 each.
Other departments are also equipping themselves because of recent events throughout the country. The Rochester, Minnesota, city council agreed to purchase 100 body cameras for the city’s
police officers, according to Bring Me the News.
The city has set aside $1 million to pay for the program, but it hopes to receive $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to help with the costs of
purchasing the cameras, MinnPost reported.
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