Every state in the U.S has a state-run police agency such as the Nebraska State Patrol or Hawaii’s Department of Public Safety. The officers in these agencies play many different roles such as interstate or highway patrol, traffic officers, trainers, and even working as security in public areas. But what makes state-run agencies better than local agencies?
1. Since salaries for state and local agencies differ because of location and because of how much money they have to expend, the exact prices vary greatly from location to location. But in general state run officers make more money than a county paid sheriff. A question off of Indeed.com gave an estimate of a regular county paid sheriff could make anywhere from 30,000-50,000 dollars a year depending on the position that they hold and what their location might be or other conditions or circumstances that could possibly affect payroll. The average for a state officer is anywhere from 60,000 up to possibly 150,000 a year which greatly depends on the location that the officer might be. Such as in New Jersey an officer might make about 100,000 dollars a year as opposed to an officer in Iowa who might only make around 60,000 dollars. So location greatly affects how much money an officer or sheriff might make but overall state run agencies offer higher salaries as opposed to county salaries.
Employment benefits such as Healthcare, Retirement, and vacation plans also differ greatly depending on the area however they include much more benefits as to a local county run agency. This again depends on the amount of action that officers might receive, location, and the need for officers in the area.
2. Working for a state run agency allows a wider range of jobs and opportunities in which you could specialize in or pursue. Such as an officer could go into detective work in which you would be out in the field gathering intelligence or evidence for certain crimes that you would be assigned to, to help find or locate a suspect. Specialized training could also be such as working as a k-9 unit, or as a horseback officer in which you would work in more public places to increase security or you could even go into SWAT (Specialized Weapons and Tactics unity). Because of these opportunities are vast, it seems much more appealing to potential officers rather than being as a local officer in which opportunities and action is drastically reduced.
3. By working with a state-run agency for a certain amount of time it could also allow you to eventually pursue other fields such as FBI or even prestigious agencies such as the Secret Service. A similar analogy would be going into the Navy Seals; you must have a certain amount of years of experience in the Navy before you are even eligible to go to basic for being a Navy Seal. The same is true with trying to go even farther in your career rather than trying to jump the gun and try to get too far ahead of yourself. By going into a state-run agency you are able to use that in a few years as a launching point for you and will look much better if you intend to further pursue your career.
These benefits overall make state-run agencies the better choice for potential police officers and will also provide better salaries and benefits that a local agency might provide. However both branches always need officers and this doesn’t mean to not look into local agencies as well. These are the most important benefits that reign over a local agency.