file photo by Boyd Loving
Updated June 05, 2017
Posted June 05, 2017
By Carla Astudillo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
New Jersey municipal cops now earn about 16 percent more than they did seven years ago, public employee salary data shows.
That hike of about $14,400 bumped the median cop salary to more than six figures.
However, experts say that spike is actually much slower than in years past due to police salary caps that were set in 2011.
Still, the median police officer salary in some towns increased more dramatically in the past six years than others.
NJ Advance Media compared each town’s most current active pension data from the end of 2016 to active pension data from March 2010 gathered by The Star-Ledger.
The towns with the biggest median cop salary increases have smaller, more experienced police forces with little turnover. The more veteran cops employed in a department, the more it drives up the median salary.
For example, in 2010, only two officers in Saddle River had more than 25 years of experience as public servant. As of 2016, there were five.
Below, we ranked the top 20 towns with the largest spike in median cop salaries.
