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Im a top pay LCD and do approx 40 hrs a month and with some night Diff mixed in I made about 215k last year. If you can land in a good spot making OT with a chance of getting LCD or LSA there is no reason to go any further up the ranks if the Money is all you care about. Yes there is always a possibility of the OT getting cut but Ive been around for a while and the only cut to overtime I ever had in my detail was to 35hrs a month then 3 months later it went back up to 40.
Im a top pay LCD and do approx 40 hrs a month and with some night Diff mixed in I made about 215k last year. If you can land in a good spot making OT with a chance of getting LCD or LSA there is no reason to go any further up the ranks if the Money is all you care about. Yes there is always a possibility of the OT getting cut but Ive been around for a while and the only cut to overtime I ever had in my detail was to 35hrs a month then 3 months later it went back up to 40.
The real issue with the job is having to take a pay-cut when you take a promotion.... Period. There's no way in hell that anyone can justify to me that taking a $20-30-40k pay cut for 3 or 4 years is ever justified!? That's the real issue.... Anyone who understands money understands that money today is worth more than money tomorrow if properly invested. Therefore, if I NEVER take that $20-40k paycut and continue to do 35-40hrs OT a month and put as much money as possible in my ITHP/50%/457/401k for the years that I'm not eating $hit as a brand new whatever rank it is I decide to take on this job, that my pension overage/deferred comp will be where it would be if I decided to hammer out the OT and keep on moving. I conducted a small investigation with a guy I knew who was a Sgt doing 40 a month. He never got promoted after that rank... There's a website out there that allows you to be nosey and look up city employees and their income for certain years... I ran his income for the past 5 years, and I ran my COs and XOs income for the same previous 5 years... Guess what. He blew them out the water. Because these 2 executives had to eat crap with little to no OT for those same 5 years that the Sgt was hammering out 35-40 a month like clockwork. They were barely ever even at top pay in any of the previous ranks, and since they were relatively new to the rank they weren't getting the OT, at least it appeared for their time at Sgt and Lt. That's time and compounded interest that you will NEVER get back in your pension, 401k and 457! You'll never get that time back... That's the real problem.....
The real issue with the job is having to take a pay-cut when you take a promotion.... Period. There's no way in hell that anyone can justify to me that taking a $20-30-40k pay cut for 3 or 4 years is ever justified!? That's the real issue.... Anyone who understands money understands that money today is worth more than money tomorrow if properly invested. Therefore, if I NEVER take that $20-40k paycut and continue to do 35-40hrs OT a month and put as much money as possible in my ITHP/50%/457/401k for the years that I'm not eating $hit as a brand new whatever rank it is I decide to take on this job, that my pension overage/deferred comp will be where it would be if I decided to hammer out the OT and keep on moving. I conducted a small investigation with a guy I knew who was a Sgt doing 40 a month. He never got promoted after that rank... There's a website out there that allows you to be nosey and look up city employees and their income for certain years... I ran his income for the past 5 years, and I ran my COs and XOs income for the same previous 5 years... Guess what. He blew them out the water. Because these 2 executives had to eat crap with little to no OT for those same 5 years that the Sgt was hammering out 35-40 a month like clockwork. They were barely ever even at top pay in any of the previous ranks, and since they were relatively new to the rank they weren't getting the OT, at least it appeared for their time at Sgt and Lt. That's time and compounded interest that you will NEVER get back in your pension, 401k and 457! You'll never get that time back... That's the real problem.....
While somewhat accurate you're speaking from the IDEAL standpoint. 85% of cops and bosses aren't in ideal situations. Majority of sergeants and Lts are not getting 40 a month. Probably may get 20 when scamming.
Im a top pay LCD and do approx 40 hrs a month and with some night Diff mixed in I made about 215k last year. If you can land in a good spot making OT with a chance of getting LCD or LSA there is no reason to go any further up the ranks if the Money is all you care about. Yes there is always a possibility of the OT getting cut but Ive been around for a while and the only cut to overtime I ever had in my detail was to 35hrs a month then 3 months later it went back up to 40.
This is on the money, so to speak. If dollars are what you're after and time spent at work isn't an issue, Lieutenant with the money in an overtime detail is probably the best rank on the job. I was a lieutenant in a spot where my overtime dried up, so the jump to captain wasn't a huge change for me. But for some, it's drastic. Like anything else, it isn't one size fits all. Depends on what is best for the individual.