One of the perhaps silent problems the profession of law enforcement analysis faces in a brain drain, especially at the local level. This is hard to measure, but a number of fine local level law enforcement analysts I knew went on to leave law enforcement to work in the private sector or in higher education. Some move on the federal analyst jobs, where the payscale is often much better.
I have observed that salaries for local level crime analysts have not risen enough in some jurisdictions, including the state of New York, where many analysts at crime analysis centers are contract employees without pension benefits.The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services contracts analysts through universities and the analysts are not in the state retirement system, like I was when I worked as an analyst in Buffalo, NY. This is, in effect, a pay loss and the job is much less secure.
Having experience as analyst at both the local and federal level of law enforcement, it is my perspective that it is more challenging to work at the local level. The skills needed are broader and the work is more varied. Quality analysts need quality pay and job security.
The DCJS gigs do put into a 401k FYI.
ReplyDeleteAgree salaries for many local municipalities need to be upped, but the DCJS gigs are not bad. (Some of the centers have a mix of DCJS + local civil gigs, the DCJS ones pay more in instances I am familiar with.)
Just as big of an issue is no clear upward mobility in small departments (which is related of course, no job promotions harder to get bigger pay increases). Agree being the sole analyst takes a more mature person as well!