Municipal Police Salaries as a Function of Community Home Values, Household Incomes, and Physical Housing Characteristics

Municipal police officer salaries (N = 1,423) taken from the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) and International City/County Management Association (ICMA) survey data and housing characteristics are analyzed to determine relationships between the police officer salaries and the median value of the communities' housing units, the communities' household median incomes, and the communities' physical housing characteristics. Evidence suggests that police salaries are positively correlated with increased housing values, incomes, and physical characteristics, controlling for regional economic differentials. Analyses revealed a curvilinear relationship more complex than the original hypothesis. As income and house values increase, police salaries steadily increase, until a plateau is attained; increasing income and house values then predict decreasing salaries. Economically wealthier communities (e.g., gated communities with private security) are less dependent on their local polic...