Police Officers Pay & Training - EP 1

YouTube:  https://youtu.be/X6Z8eUY09oU

INTRO

Hello and welcome to Real Talk Behind the Badge— This is Episode #1where cops and community members drop all the bullshit and get real with the facts. Hopefully, we’ll have many more.

A little about me; I’m Tim, a retired cop from Massachusetts —before that, I was in the military for 8 years. I’ve been a street cop, a street shift supervisor, a detective, and a narcotics unit commander. I’ve been shot at, my family’s been threatened, I’ve been sued and won, injured more times than I can count, and I’ve been in fights where I’ve had to fight for my own damn life. I was injured on duty where I lost partial eyesite, so I had to be retired.  After that, I had a cardiac arrest probably due to stresses of the job.  So, I know the streets, I know the stresses.

Today you’re going to see we talk a lot about South Carolina’s law enforcement.  I’m sure many other states have the same problems, so let me know about yours and we can talk about those problems also.

But for today’s episode, we’re going to talk about why there are so many damn lawsuits against police officers; why the starting pay for new police officers is sooo low; the horrible law in SC that allows cities and counties to not pay officers when they get injured on duty; why the training of police officers is considered grossly insufficient and why the legislature possibly seems to want to keep it that way; who’s making tons of money off the lawsuits against officers and why they want to keep it that way.

The state of South Carolina, a relatively small state and where I now live — in 2024 alone, has spent over $9 million on payouts for false arrests, brutality, civil rights violations, cruel & unusual treatment, due process violations, failure to give medical care, negligent supervision, sexual assault and shootings; and $91 million over a previous five year span. How much of that money went to victims? —how much went to lawyers?  In one of the next podcasts, I’m going give you those statistics.  We have a system in SC that doesn’t seem to give two shits about the cops that protects our society and our taxpayer money. We have a system that shrugs everything off as long as someone or something is there to pay for it, which usually ends up being the taxpayer, who doesn’t even know it.  I’m going to shed some light on what’s going on.  I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the system.

 Who has the REAL answers? Not academics or suits—it has to come from us, the street cops who work it every day.  We need to start giving THEM the answers.

Theory by the academics ain’t gonna buy it anymore—it’s got to be truth from the 720,652 + street cops grinding it out every day, nationwide and the citizens that feel it in their pocketbook.

Nationwide,  in 2023 (which is the latest data available), rookie cops average $57,000 starting salary, probably around $60,000 today— South Carolina has an average starting pay of only $45K for an officer.  That’s it!  $45,000 dollars, but wait,  they’re trying to pass a bill for teachers starting salary at $50K!

To me, that’s a gut punch and a slap in the face. Just in SC, 550 cops were injured in 2024; and that’s just the reported ones! 

And then the state has the gall to say if you’re injured on duty, they don’t have to pay you for the first 7 days of injury!!  I can’t believe it!   If you’re an SC cop injured on duty—say, shot or banged up in a chase or a fight—they just say, “Tough shit!”, you’re out of luck for wage replacement for the first 7 calendar days. Medical bills are covered immediately, but no cash for lost wages until day 8.

On day 8, you’d start getting 66⅔% of your average weekly wage (that’s about $575/week on a $45K salary)—retroactive to the first day only if you’re out 14+ days.

Unlike other states with full pay from day one for cops, SC has no blanket exemption here—Title 42 applies universally unless your department or agency bridges that gap with injury leave.

Why does the legislature say they don’t have to pay injured cops from day 1? Could it be they want you to work injured?  Could it be they don’t want you to report injuries?  I’m willing to bet there were a lot more injuries than the 550 reported in 2024.  (If you want to look this up, you can find it in the official South Carolina Code of Laws under Title 42 (Workers’ Compensation), Chapter 9 (Compensation Provisions), Section 42-9-220.)  To me, this is all a good reason for unions.

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Who do you think has a more dangerous job, police officers or the military? You know, we often recognize our military, and rightly so, for their bravery, and we grieve when we lose one of them.  Now compare their time in hostile situations, where they can be killed or injured, to the time police officers face the same. What do ya think? Parts of Chicago and other large cities ARE war zones. Gun fights, murders, rapes, robberies every single day.

Dig into this-- Total military killed by hostile actions between 2020 and 2022 (only stats available) were only 22*.  There have been 1,619 police officers killed on duty since 2020.  In years without a war, it appears police officers face far more hostility and chance of death than even our military.  Our police officers starting salary must be at least $60K or more!!  Who else is going to run towards the gun fire?  Your Mayors, city counselors? Lawyers?  Legislators?  There is no one else, and I want those men and women to be the best trained and prepared possible.

So, let’s talk about their training. The state advertises that South Carolina’s cops get 12 weeks of Academy training—This is one of the shortest academies in the country. Nationally, the average is 21 weeks, almost double the training. Only about 4 states skimp below 12 weeks, and a few states also have12 weeks training, but 40-plus states require longer training. Why?  Because they want knowledgeable, well-trained officers in their states.  But the REAL truth about SC’s training is the actual on-site academy is only 8 weeks, the other four weeks is at the local police station watching videos and taking tests! SC’s 480 hours ain’t nearly enough when $9 million’s bleeding out yearly on lawsuits—$91 million over five years between 2015 and 2019. That’s $91 million from our taxes and we’re going to talk more about that in a couple minutes.

If we were to have a starting pay of $60K, what would the benefits be to the state and taxpayers?  At a starting salary of $60K, you’d be able to keep seasoned cops who know the law which results in fewer false arrests and cuts the rookie screw-ups that cost us so much.

$60K starting salary with annual raises will also keep veteran cops who how to handle high emotional situations, not escalate them, and which will build community ties.

 SC’s turnover’s rate is brutal and we wonder why. According to The SC Department of Employment and Workforce, via BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) lists the average annual wage across all occupations in SC at $54,250 in 2023.  (last stats available) Probably around $56-57K by now; and the state only wants to give $45K for new cops. Just how many highly-educated individuals do you think are going to apply to be a police officer when the starting salary is $10K below the average wage?  I wonder what the average salary is for high-risk jobs?  $90-100K??  Let me tell you, being a police officer IS a high-risk job without question; I don’t care where they work!!!

SC’s 12 weeks of training is cheap—$6,000-$8,000 per recruit (SC Criminal Justice Academy budget guesses)—but high turnover means retraining replacements for every one that quits. $60K starting salary with annual raises keeps cops past the 2-year mark (which is the national avg. where officers quit), and not having to hire new recruits all the time. Fewer rookies and fewer costs on redundant classes equals a more professional department with lower costs.

If just 10% of SC’s 11,708 cops don’t ditch their job yearly (1,171 saved), that’s $7M-$9M not spent retraining.  How many of these officers that quit go to higher paying departments in other states?  I’m willing to bet after we just paid for all the training for these officers for other states, they are saying, “Thank you SC.”

Now let’s dive into SC’s academy training a little. 12 weeks to learn shooting, high speed driving, self-defense and all the protocols an officers needs to be effective, enforce the laws and survive the street, PLUS all the state laws, county laws, city ordinances, etc. Most academies throughout the U.S. are 21 weeks or longer. Wow!  We must have the smartest police recruits in the U.S. as it only takes 12 weeks here!  Really?  Or is it they don’t want new officers trained extremely well for other reasons?

And the kicker?… You only have to pass the academy with a 70% score.  That means you only have to know 70% of the laws.  That means you can be ignorant on about 30% of the laws and still graduate! Let me see if I get this right, in SC new officers get half the training of most other states and then only have to know 70% of half the training.  Is that right?  Still wonder why we have so many false arrests and lawsuits?

And what does happen when a new officer screws up and the city/county or whatever gets a large lawsuit?

Well, here’s the real kicker: the state hires outside lawyers to defend the state/counties and cities against all these claims and lawsuits; all the lawsuits like false arrests, civil rights violations right down to traffic accidents, etc., and pays them up to $175 an hour. And guess what? This was all approved by the state legislature where a third of SC’s legislators are lawyers—Yes, approximately 33% of them with law degrees!

So, we end up with very short training for officers, big payouts for lawyers—yes, $45K starting cops pay is a slap in the face, but the lawyers LOVE it.  The FBI stats are lagging, but their best guess for the last 5 years in SC is 20 cops shot with 10 killed, 550 injured in 2024 alone.  Lawyers cash in and run to the bank while the system laughs, cops get hurt and killed, and civilians don’t know who to turn to, why the cops don’t know the law or who’s fault it is.

Are you ready for this, the icing on the cake?  In 2024 alone, the state paid lawyers to defend all insurance claims almost $29 million dollars!  You heard it here, almost $29 million dollars!!  It sure looks and sounds to me like the legislature and the lawyers want cops on the street with a minimum law enforcement education as that makes more money for their fellow lawyers. Am I wrong?  Show me where!

South Carolina---WAKE UP!!

And then we have the court system…ask yourself, “why do the courts let so many violent felons back out on the street after being arrested?” Could it be… the more crimes are committed, the more business for their fellow lawyers? Maybe… think about it.

Is this coincidence?  Cops, citizens—what’s your take?

This is a wake-up call! You got any answers?—Let’s hear it! 

Cops from other states and cities, let me know your gripes.  We don’t mind airing those also!

We’re going to discuss and debate all of it: what’s busted, who’s hurting, who’s making the big bucks and how we fix it. No scripts, just REAL, straight talk. Go to realtalkbehindthebadge.com, that’s realtalkbehindthebadge.com and drop a comment or rant; and if you can, drop a couple bucks to help us out and help keep this going. This podcast stuff ain’t cheap or easy on a cop retiree’s salary!  Cops with scars, locals with gripes—your voices fuel this. Let’s tackle the mess behind the badge together.

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Thanks to all our brothers and sisters behind the badge.  Keep it going and we’ll get this fixed!  Stay safe.

This is Real Talk—now let’s roll.  Until next time.

Thank you