(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Good pay and a strong potential for salary growth make Ohio one of the best states in the nation for police officers, according to a recently published study.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked the state 10th in the country for police officers in its study that examined 30 key indicators, including median income for law-enforcement officers to police deaths per 1,000 officers and local police-protection expense.
Ohio’s total score of 51.93 included a ranking of fifth in training requirements and 26th in both opportunity and competition, and in job hazards and protections.
"Ohio is the 10th-best state to be a police officer. This is because it has a high median income for law enforcement officers and strong potential for salary growth,” WalletHub Analyst Jill Gonzalez said. “In terms of training requirements, the state does not allow police to work before training and requires deescalation training, which provides officers with strategies to defuse potentially dangerous situations and calmly deal with people who are experiencing mental and emotional crises.”
The report also recognized that most police disciplinary records are public.
“In Ohio, police disciplinary records are mostly public, and there is a ‘Blue Alert’ in place which provides the means to speed the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state or federal law enforcement officers,' Gonzalez said. "As a consequence, the state has a low share of assaulted law enforcement officers, just above 3%.”
The study did show Ohio ranked 47th in the percentage of homicide cases solved, bettering only Indiana, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Illinois.
The report showed nationally a $66,020 mean annual income for law enforcement officers, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
According to Indeed, the average salary for a police officer in Ohio is $53,394.
The top states for police officers, according to WalletHub’s report, include Connecticut, California, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
The worst are Arkansas, Hawaii, Alaska, West Virginia and Mississippi.
