Lowest Paid State LE Agency

Why is the starting salary for DOT, FHP, DEP, Ag, FDLE, ABT, Insurance Fraud, etc, higher than for FWC? What kind of message does that send to the officers. I somewhat understand Tallahassee's failure to provide raises for state law enforcement as a whole (minus FHP which got a raise) but I don't understand FWC's failure to at least get our pay to equal those of other uniformed agencies. Tell's me someone up in Tallahassee (JJ) isn't doing their job.

There are a host of problems that led to the current pay issues:
Bad government, uncaring legislature, clueless leadership, etc. The issue was compunded by broad banding. Couple that with the 100,000 state employees that are not law enforcement and you have what we have today - nothing.
FDLE enjoyed great legislator and governor support over the years. They had some good people leading the charge and making the case for $$$$. With the exception of the former FHP colonel, I can't think of any agency head that gave more than "lip service" to the legislature about pay.
Other agencies? Not so much. Most are headed by political appointees with no real interest in anything but their next appointment.
Can it be fixed? Not really. There is no real vocal public support for state employees in general. Most in the "private sector" think state employees are overpaid as it is.
Let's face it - being a state employee is not what it once was. The same can be said for auto workers, steel workers, and any of the thousands of jobs that used to represent life long employment with good benefits.
As a footnote - most uniformed state agencies start as Law Enforcement Officer I
Most investigative agencies start as Law Enforcement Investigator I or II - a built in difference of at least 10% and often 15% or more.
Here is the message it sends - you are expendable. You are replaceable.

Since we're asking questions?

Why is it FWC does not have Sergeants or Corporals? It seems the law enforcement division is missing a critical rank? And, the officers in the field are paying for it. Your Lieutenants are being paid as Sergeants according to the broad band pay schedule and have to do both jobs. Why is it all the other state law enforcement agencies have such critical ranks and FWC does not?

If the other state agencies are making it happen then what the ****!!

Thanks Julie. We appreciate your good work

It's b/c Julie wants to become the director eventually and wants it to look like she can run this agency on a tighter budget than FHP. she has to impress the legislators with her thriftiness.

It starts at the top. If the FWC is neglected in any respect...look up.

One thing you have to understand about budgets is in tally who ever high up saves the most money gets a bonus at the end. They only care about themselves and no one else. The way they see it, is everyone needs a job and you can always be replaced its not a family business its a cooperation. Therfore you are nothing but a body to them. I deffenatly are in the fact if you want more you would have to change jobs. I stay because I need the money and honestly there arent a whole lot of jobs out there right now.

Prior to FWC, FMP had Sgts and for whatever reason decided to promote all the Sgts to Lts. The last 2 FMP Sgts were assigned to the FMP Academy in the early 1990s. The wand was waived and they were promoted to Lt.