With high base salaries, opportunities to work lucrative construction details, and one of the nation's most generous overtime programs, Boston's rank-and-file police officers brought home $78,906 on average in 2002, and those who earned higher-education degrees made considerably more. The full compensation package makes Boston officers among the best-paid big-city cops in the nation, according to information compiled by the Globe.Base pay for Boston patrolmen is similar to that in other big departments around the country -- about $53,426 annually. But Boston officers supplement their salaries with more overtime on average than officers in nine of the nation's 10 largest police departments; only New York City's $16,000 per officer topped Boston's $8,520 in 2002, the most recent year for which data are widely available.On top of that, Boston police can take advantage of two Massachusetts programs that swell their salaries even further. The state mandates that construction sites that affect traffic flow have a police officer present, and the Quinn Bill is the most generous police-education incentive program in the nation.Graphic: Police pay in major cities Salary has emerged as a major sticking point in stalled contract negotiations between the city and its police unions, particularly the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. The association is threatening to picket outside the Democratic National Convention in July if its contract is not settled, a move that would embarrass Mayor Thomas M. Menino in front of a worldwide audience.But Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, said the union's leaders have little to complain about when it comes to pay. Boston, with the country's 20th-largest police force, has one of the nation's best-paid forces, he said."Police officers in Boston are compensated very favorably compared to their counterparts in other major cities," Tyler said. "We're competitive with just base pay compared to other police departments. When you add on the other pieces, with paid details and Quinn Bill, Boston is one of the top cities in the country in terms of police compensation."For comparison, the Globe surveyed police unions, city governments, and watchdog groups for compensation levels at the nation's 10 largest police departments and several departments in cities about the same size as Boston.
Thomas J. Nee, the patrolmen's association president, said numbers describing total pay instead of just base pay are misleading. Not all officers work more than the mandated 40 hours a week, and those who do are not able to count on the extra money as definite income every year, Nee said. He noted that paid details and the Quinn Bill are established by the Legislature and can be taken away at any time, and overtime can always be scaled back by the city."At the end of the day, it's not part of your predictable, traditional wage package," Nee said. "Those are supplemental wages. We may not see any for quite some time, and then we might see a deluge of them."In addition, Boston has a higher cost of living than many other large cities, and it is one of only a few cities that require officers to live in the city, said Ronald York, a police pay consultant who is working for Boston police unions this year."The cost of living is very substantial. It's one of the bad things about Boston," said York, president and founder of policepay.net, an online database that tracks information on the country's 200 largest police departments.York said the Boston department has relatively few salary rewards for longevity. After receiving significant pay boosts their first three years, Boston officers don't get any "step" increases for extra years of service.Police negotiations have been particularly contentious this year, and not just with the patrolmen's union. on Wednesday, the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society rejected a proposed settlement with the city, with some detectives saying they believe Boston can afford more than the 11.5 percent pay raises over four years being offered. Many detectives now receive salaries in excess of $90,000 a year, thanks in part to Quinn Bill benefits.The leaders of the patrolmen's association have said they want a deal along the lines of the one Menino signed with the firefighters in 2001. That contract called for 21.5 percent pay raises over four years, and leaves veteran firefighters making about $6,000 more in base pay than police counterparts with similar levels of experience.The patrolmen's union leaders say that situation stands at odds with the traditional parity arrangement in other cities in Massachusetts and around the nation, where police and firefighters are paid roughly equally.But Tyler said pay figures for police officers should include Quinn Bill benefits, which are available to police officers but not firefighters. The Quinn Bill boosts base pay by 10 percent for an associate's degree in criminal justice, 20 percent for a bachelor's, and 25 percent for a master's.Two-thirds of the Boston police force -- and more than half of its 1,400 patrolmen -- receive extra pay because of the program. The patrolmen's association agreed to no salary increases in the final two years of their last contract in exchange for the extension of Quinn Bill benefits."After three decades of seeking the Quinn Bill, once having achieved it, you'd think they'd cut the mayor some slack and appreciate that a major priority was realized," Tyler said.Negotiations with the patrolmen's association are now being handled by the state Joint Labor Management Committee, and the two sides are scheduled to present information to the committee today.Seth Gitell, a Menino spokesman, said the mayor looks forward to signing a fair deal with the police unions and the other city unions. "Mayor Menino is determined to get a deal done," Gitell said.