Police Officers Are Underpaid

It was 1992 and his whole life was ahead of him. He was young, married and anticipating the arrival of his first child. As a dispatcher, he was looking forward to his twenty-first birthday so he could be a police officer. “He wanted to be a cop, and that is the only thing he wanted to do,” says Anderson County Sheriff Gene Taylor (Buie). He was well-trained and graduated at the top of his class from the South Carolina Police Academy. He knew the rules, rehearsed them over and over, and lived by them every day. Christopher Lee Taylor was an Anderson County Sheriff’s Deputy whose life was cut short by the squeeze of a trigger. He was unappreciated by the criminals and underpaid by the county. He gave his life for less than $17,000 a year. Chris’ story is not unfamiliar in law enforcement. Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to protect the innocent and the guilty only to be paid a minimal yearly salary.

There are many misconceptions about the duties of law enforcement officers and their daily responsibilities. There are those who argue that police officers have it made, riding around in a car for most of their shift, stopping occasionally for coffee and doughnuts. They have the idea that the higher-ranked officers sit in a comfortable office, make a whopping salary every year, and deal with matters on the telephone, instead of being out on the streets. Perhaps television has given that idea to those who think, but it is just another false impression. It is also common to hear conversations of how wildlife officers have it made. They have their own truck, boat, and four-wheeler. What people may not know is that most wildlife officers work alone and are called during the night. Most of the time when that ...

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...y difficult to have a wife and a family with such a low salary. Does he fear his job? Yes. Does he work at staying alive? Yes, he works at it every day. He eats a certain diet and he works out with weights on a daily basis in anticipation of a confrontation with an assailant larger than his 6’2”, two-hundred-pound frame. Is the fear or the excitement worth the salary he makes? No, not at all. Will he continue to work to make things better and places safer for his community? Yes, he will.

References

Buie, Lisa. “Deputy Shot Down.” Anderson Independent Mail. 8 December 1992: Al.

Henslin, James M. Essential of Sociology A Down-To-Earth Approach. 6th ed. Pearson: Boston,

MA. 2006.

“Facts and Figures.” Enforcement Officers Memorial. National Law. 6 Feb 2014.

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Taylor, Ray. Personal Interview. 11 Nov 1992.