Why I’m Job Hunting I’ve been with the Wyoming Highway Patrol for a number of years. Some would describe me as being about halfway through a “typical” duration law enforcement career. Someone else wrote that the Highway Patrol is “bleeding.” Many of us used to say we “bleed green” to describe our undying loyalty to the agency and the love of the job. However, our issues have compounded to such a point that I am now doing something I never thought I would do – I have been submitting applications elsewhere. Loyalty and love don’t pay my mortgage or put food on my table. And forget about having the audacity to dream of a trip with your family that you can pay for in cash vs having to finance – that’s not happening. I’ve seen some commentary on how our issues sound like a leadership problem vs a compensation problem.
Our upper level leadership is certainly a component of this issue, but our compensation issues have plagued us longer than our current leadership has been around, and without a real fix, will outlast our leadership well into the future. That hopelessness is spurring on this exodus we’re currently seeing. The way I ended up at this place of job hunting will be a familiar tale to those who’ve been with the WHP for any length of time. Our compensation is always behind the market. The nice thing about using “the market” for data is that it’s both varied (11 regional states) and accurate. It’s impartial and objective.
The market doesn’t care about politics or leadership – it only analyzes compensation of like positions across state lines. Its flaw is timing, as data provided is itself a year behind (2024 numbers reflect data gathered and compiled during 2023). It does this by comparing what state employees doing a specific job (like “state trooper”) earn across 11 other states in the region. The governor’s balanced budget asked to bring state employees to “MPP” (market average) on what would be, by the time it’d be enacted, three year old pay information. Average pay from three years ago is the ask. This is hardly a get rich scheme. Troopers are behind other states by 26% in pay. Multiple promotions within our agency can’t equal the BASE compensation paid to a regular road trooper in other states. Other states have income tax, though, is the common reply. They sure do, but a pay increase would be significant enough that losing 7% to income tax still is a significant net gain.
What came out of the JAC was a partial fix that actually makes things worse. They want to target select pay bands of sworn members and offer compensation adjustments that ignore our dispatchers, POE, and professional staff. They also, notably, ignore low level supervisors, creating a circumstance where troopers would make more than their supervisors or that supervisor’s supervisor. Not due to overtime, but because their base pay rate would surpass the base pay rate of their supervisor. People are already hesitant to promote, this will exacerbate that issue. One representative, justifying this decision, stated how when he was in the trades he made more than his boss. I bet with overtime he did. That’s very common in the law enforcement world as well, thanks to overtime. However, we’ve lost all of our overtime. This is a straight base wage increase for your basic troopers that would surpass one and possibly two levels of supervision. This is like having your car need oil, coolant, brakes, and tires, but you only choose to fix one and then you are baffled by the fact that your car is still having issues.
Continuing with the representative’s example of the trades… If you’re good at what you do, say a very skilled welder, are you going to keep welding for the company that pays you 26% LESS than the other company? Not likely. If you’re a foreman at a jobsite who’s welded skillfully for 10 years and busted your butt for the company, got promoted, and now your new guy on the site is making more than you, are you going to stay on? Also not likely. And that’s how I’ve arrived at this place. The market has spoken, and I can go be a trooper almost anywhere else and make more money. Sticking it out here and trying for promotions will still have me underpaid as compared to my peers in other states.
Every year I have to hope the legislature sees fit, as it rarely does, to fairly compensate its troopers. It’s demeaning, demoralizing, and frustrating to see how little value they place on us. Lip service and verbal support means nothing when they lack action, and that is why I’m looking to take my training, talents, and abilities elsewhere. I pray the public, whose steadfast support is so genuinely seen and appreciated by the rank and file, can help the legislature see the value of public safety before we lose too many more.
A WHP Trooper