Best & Worst States to Be a Police Officer

Law enforcement is a career that is always in the public eye, whether for heroic reasons or scandal. Currently, our nation’s 800,000 law enforcement officers have even more of a spotlight than usual, though. That’s because they have been in charge of enforcing COVID-19 restrictions, and because of recent high-profile police brutality incidents, including the trial of Derek Chauvin, which ended with a murder conviction.

Even when the U.S. isn’t in the middle of a pandemic, being a police officer is significantly more dangerous than many other occupations. Because of such risks, law-enforcement agencies must offer enough incentives to attract and retain officers. To start, there’s a $67,290 mean annual wage and typically a generous benefits package which can include retirement-contribution matches, tuition assistance, ample leave time, a take-home vehicle, and access to health and fitness facilities.

How well officers are compensated varies from place to place, though, as does the quality of their work environment. Officers are more likely to be attracted to police departments that steer clear of scandal and corruption and that are transparent with their communities.

In order to determine the best states in which to pursue a law-enforcement career, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 key indicators of police-friendliness. Our data set ranges from the median income for law-enforcement officers to police deaths per 1,000 officers to state and local police-protection expenses per capita.

Main Findings

Best States to Be a Cop

Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

Ask the Experts

The future of law enforcement rests in the hands of policy, the availability of resources, and the relationship between cops and the residents they vow to serve and protect. To advance the discussion, we asked a panel of experts for their insight on the following key questions:

1. Police forces across the country are being devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. What measures can be taken in order to keep a functioning police force during the current crisis?
2. What is the long-term outlook for the law-enforcement field?
3. Do you think police departments should invest more in technology and equipment or focus more on developing soft skills for use in community policing?
4. What measures should police undertake to improve relationships with the community, especially in minority communities?
5. What strategies have proven effective in diversifying the police force so that it is more representative of the community?
6. Will rebuilding trust with communities that became more distant, more fearful, and more skeptical of the police during 2020, be the biggest challenge in 2021?

Methodology

In order to determine the best and worst states for police officers, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Opportunity & Competition, 2) Law Enforcement Training Requirements and 3) Job Hazards & Protections.

We evaluated those dimensions using 30 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for police officers.

We then determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Opportunity & Competition – Total Points: 33.33

• Law-Enforcement Officers per Capita: Double Weight (~7.41 Points)
  Note: “Law-enforcement officers” includes police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators.
• Average Starting Salary of Police Officers: Double Weight (~7.41 Points)
• Median Income for Law-Enforcement Officers: Full Weight (~3.70 Points)
  Note: “Law-enforcement officers” includes police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators. This metric was adjusted for the cost of living.
• Median Income Growth for Law-Enforcement Officers: Double Weight (~7.41 Points)
  Note: “Law-enforcement officers” includes police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators. This metric measures the growth of income over time (2020 vs. 2019).
• Salary Growth Potential of Law-Enforcement Officers: Full Weight (~3.70 Points)
  Note: “Law-enforcement officers” includes police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators. This metric highlights the income growth (Percentile 90 / Percentile 10) that a police officer could obtain during his or her career.
• Projected Law-Enforcement Officers per Capita by 2028: Full Weight (~3.70 Points)
  Note: “Law-enforcement officers” includes police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators.

Law Enforcement Training Requirements – Total Points: 33.33

• Police Officer Hours Training Required: Double Weight (~8.89 Points)
  Note: This composite metric considers the number of hours of basic and field training required for police officers.
• States Allowing Police Work Before Basic Training: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)
  Note: This binary metric considers whether a state allows or forbids police to work before training.
• Police Officer Continued Professional Education Hours Required: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)
  Note: Continued professional education hours include things such as avoiding deadly chokeholds, developing new strategies, and learning about mental health concerns. This repeated annual training may influence officer quality more than a longer initial course sequence.
• Police Officer Education Requirements: Half Weight (~2.22 Points)
  Note: This metric measures whether a state requires police officers to obtain an associate or bachelor’s degree.
• States with Laws Requiring Officers to Be Trained to Respond to Mental Health, Substance Use and Behavioral Disorder Issues: Full Weight (~4.44 Points)
  Note: This binary metric takes into consideration whether a state has or doesn’t have some form of law requiring officers to be trained to respond to mental health, substance use and behavioral disorder issues.
• Requirement of De-escalation Training: Double Weight (~8.89 Points)
  Note: This binary metric considers the presence or absence of “De-escalation training” in a state. De-escalation training teaches officers to slow down, create space, and use communication techniques to defuse a potentially dangerous situation. De-escalation training provides officers with strategies to calmly deal with people who are experiencing mental and emotional crises.

Job Hazards & Protections – Total Points: 33.33

• Police-Misconduct Confidentiality Law: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This metric measures whether police officers’ disciplinary records are confidential, have limited public availability or are completely public.
• Police Body-Worn Camera Legislation: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Investigation/Prosecution on Use of Force by Police Officers: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This binary metric measures whether a state has or has not passed laws relating to the investigation or prosecution of use of force. Statutes addressing investigations and prosecution generally fall into two categories, 1) empowering an entity to conduct investigations and prosecute or 2) outlining procedurally how an investigation must be conducted.
• Police Officer Decertification Requirements: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This binary metric measures whether statutory law enforcement decertification requirements are in place in the state. Certificates are issued by the state government as a requirement to legally work as a police officer in that state. Police officers who are decertified are no longer legally allowed to work in the jurisdiction that certified them unless their certification is reinstated.
• Share of Law Enforcement Departments Carrying Naloxone: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
• Degree of Lethal Force Allowed for Police Use: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
• Presence of “Red Flag” Laws: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This binary metric considers the presence or absence of “Red flag laws” in a state. “Red flag laws” allow the seizure of guns before people can commit acts of violence.
• Presence of “Blue Alerts”: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Notes: This metric considers the presence or absence of “Blue Alerts” in a state. The Blue Alert provides the means to speed the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state, or federal law enforcement officers.
• Police Deaths per 1,000 Officers: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
• Persons Killed by Police per Capita: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
• Share of Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
• Pursuit-Related Fatalities per 100,000 Residents: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
  Note: This metric includes occupants of the police vehicle, occupants of the chased vehicle, occupants of other vehicles and nonoccupants.
• Violent-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Property-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~1.52 Points)
• Road Safety: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the number of fatal accidents per 100 million vehicle miles driven.
• Share of Homicide Cases Solved: Triple Weight (~4.55 Points)
• 9-1-1 Calls Delivered to Local & Regional Answering Points per Capita: Double Weight (~3.03 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on the 2019 National 911 Progress Report and measures the number of 9-1-1 calls delivered from the national 911 control office to primary PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Points), regardless of whether they were answered or dispatch occurred, aggregated at the state level.
• State & Local Police-Protection Expenses per Capita: Half Weight (~0.76 Points)

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Projections Central State Occupational Projections, Council for Community and Economic Research, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Urban Institute, Amnesty International USA, The Officer Down Memorial Page, Mapping Police Violence, Murder Accountability Project, Ballotpedia, The National 911 Program, North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Blue Alert System, Institute of Criminal Justice Training Reform, National League of Cities and the Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation.

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