Louisiana Police Some Of The Lowest Paid In America

If numbers really don't lie, then when a person decides to go into law enforcement anywhere in the State of Louisiana, they really are not doing it for the money.

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Digging into the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, the Louisiana Radio Network determined that Louisiana's patrol officers and sheriff's deputies received an average annual salary of $45,000 in 2022.

That's A Staggering Statistic Considering The Following Facts

1. That annual salary is $26,000 less than the national average of $71,000.
2. In Louisiana, seven out of every 1,000 jobs are in law enforcement.

That means that not only are our officers underpaid, and underpaid a lot, the fact that it requires an extremely high police presence in Louisiana due to the high crime rate, the entire state's employment population makes markedly less than the national average.

Exactly where does the average salary of Louisiana's police officers rank in America? According to statistics released by ziprecruiter.com, Louisiana's police force is the fifth lowest paid in the whole country.  Only Nebraska, Kentucky, North Carolina and Arkansas officers are paid less.

Speaking to the Louisiana Radio Network, PAR President Steven Procopio said, “We’re behind everyone else. Often times by substantial amounts. That’s a very important job so you want to make sure you have people that are going to be able to do law enforcement. And make sure they can be effective while also making sure they can do their job well.”

Continuing, Procopio stated, “We have had a problem in law enforcement. These are public employees so it’s not just up to the private sector to pay what they need to. It’s a more difficult process. And so you have to take actual action and raise revenue or make priorities.”

Tough pill to swallow isn't it?  The very ones we pay to "Serve and Protect" the great state of Louisiana are some of the least paid in America.