Hi, I am an officer in a fairly small dept. in New Jersey. We are a 28 man dept. near Camden, NJ. I am looking at jobs in NC, particularly in the Wake/Johnston County area, and need some insight. I am looking to go to a bigger dept. with special units and room for advancement. I do not want to be on patrol for my whole career. Raleigh P.D. looks like they have lots of specialty units, and being a big dept. I am sure there is room for advancement. Does it take a while to get onto a special unit? I saw on the site that officers start between 32,000 and 52,000, but what are the pay steps like after that? Right now my current dept.'s top pay for a patrolman is around 83,000 base minus the longevity and other stuff. What is the top pay for Raleigh?

Also, I saw that Raleigh works the Pitman schedule. We work the same schedule except we rotate days to nights every 2 weeks instead of every month. I absolutely hate it. Just when you get used to one shift it is time to change over. Is there any chance that Raleigh will get away from this schedule and maybe go 10 or 10.5 hr shifts?

One last thing, what is the retirement like, is it 30 year retirement? Up here we have 25 year retirement where you get 67% and benefits. Any info really would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has any info on surrounding PD's in Wake/Johnston area I would appreciate it. I do not know any cops down there so I am trying to get info.

Thanks in advance.

RPD is a rapidly growing police department with a good deal of potentional for advancement. I would say on average you can move to a specialty unit within 4-8 years depending on your desire to transfer and work ethic. Our pay structure is very complicated but the top out pay is around 63,000 for a patrol officer and it takes about 12-15 years to reach that salary, probably less if you have expereince with another agency. Our retirement is 30 years mandated. You will receive 79% of your salary at retirement but at age 62 it goes down to 54%. Overall very good department but we do have issues with our pay and benefits. This is because collective bargaining is illegal in this state, a law our union is working hard to repeal. Good luck.

Thanks, Armstrong. Do you know if out-of-state pension time will transfer over?

Hey NJ Guest,

I looked into leaving the FD here and going up to NJ. I found out that I could buy some years from here, up there. So, hopefully it'll be the "vice-versa" for you. Rick, maybe you can give this guy some guidance with Miss Cowell's office?

It is a good thing you stayed Rawlee, many are getting laid off up here, and they are really trying to screw with the pension, which is why I don't know if its worth it to stay here anymore.

If anyone has moved from NJ or anywhere up north down to NC, what are your thoughts? Raleigh seems like a great place to to live. Also, I hear Raleigh PD has many officers that came from NJ, NY, PA, OH, etc. Thanks for the responses guys.

Yes, I know. I have relatives on the job there. Lots of Northerners down here, lots on RPD as well. These guys can tell you better than I about PD. I guess it's like any place, has its' good and bad. PD retirement kicks a$$ though in this state.

PD retirement is 30 years at 79% with benefits correct?

I hope you don't have any visible tattoos! It's gotten very political here. Our lists for transfers and promotions are now listed alphabetically instead of being ranked by who did the best. That has made things real fun. Good luck.

Nope, no visible ttatoos. Just looking for a big dept. with different opportunities, and trying to get away from all the budget problems in NJ. And the politics, NJ is all who you know lol. Just looking for something better and a department with more to offer than patrol for 25 years.

Does anyone on this board happen to know anything about Cary P.D. I would appreciate the info. Thanks.