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Originally Posted by
Mark Rippetoe
Your thinking is backward here. If you want better cops, and you want cop pay to be higher, then you have to make it harder to be a cop, thus restricting the supply of potential cops to a better grade of applicant. Just paying more money to the same applicant pool accomplishes nothing useful. Just like teachers: if you want teachers to make more money, fix it up so there are fewer of them applying for the job, by making it harder to get to apply, i.e. tightening up the process of getting the certificate by requiring an actual education of the applicant. For example, when I was in college, the two easiest degrees by far in the whole four-year university were education and criminal justice; the BSed degree was available for 104 semester hours, without having to take college algebra. Thus a higher supply of substandard graduates, more competition for the jobs, and a lower price to buy (pay) them. Supply/demand always operates. In other words, if cops don't make enough money to attract a better grade of person, then the problem must be corrected by REQUIRING a better grade of person that would have to be paid better.