City PD - $52,000 Base Salary......crazy to be thinking about going to FHP??

Unregistered · 07-16-2018, 01:44 AM

You sir are a joke. You should think about being a comedian. Leave a SO or PD to go back to FHP? That just shows that you cannot handle the stress or pressure of being a real LEO. Go back to have the freedom of patrol. You mean so you can do a little as possible to get by. Oh yeah, my boss asked me to do two contacts an hour, cry cry cry. That's funny. I drive through two counties to get to work and constanly see cars going high 90's and low 100's (radar) but never see a state roadie on the interstate. The whole agency is a joke and is utterly useless. Go back so you can write your tickets and accidents like a public sevrice officer in our agency.

Unregistered · 07-21-2018, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have to be honest, I do like the freedom that FHP has to offer and I'm a traffic guy at heart (THI, Motors, DRE). The FHP salary ...in my case....would go up with college and DRE certification which puts me at a little over $40,000. I have done the the math and with a decent amount of SOAR each week and/or hireback / OT work I will easily be over my current $52,000 base salary. I am also aware that SOAR is pensionable.

THAT BEING SAID.....I know that at the PD my base will be around $65,000 in 8 years. So WOULD I BE CRAZY to leave my current PD for FHP at this point??

I know I will get a variety of answers here. There are troopers I know that say they bring in $78,000 - $85,000 a year with off-duty work ....and many say it's not a lot of of off-duty.

Thanks for any help!

Alright, so the title says it all! I started my career as an FHP trooper and I loved it! The freedom, the work ethics that was instilled in us from day one (although you always have that one or two who were lazy AF) and everything about being a trooper was great. I even deployed to hurricane ravaged counties, superbowl in Jacksonville, BCR Daytona, Daytona 500, Pepsi 400, Homestead speedway and many more.... Special details were great, fun and the OT came in handy. And the SOAR and offduty were good too. I made over 90K every year, except my first because I was a rookie and didn't know how the offduty/soar really worked.

But then the story changed. I was GONE away from my family for too long. I missed parties, family BBQ's, outings with friends, and a bunch of other stuff because I HAD to work. I couldn't balance personal life with work life because I needed the money. FHP base salary was NOT enough to live a "regular life", not for a family of 3. Oh did i mentioned I was stationed in South Florida? Yeah, where the cost of living is HIGHER than most places in FL.
So I started looking and found a decent department, with great pay, benefits, a step plan and in the FRS system too. SO coming over was not a hard decision to make.

Going back to FHP is something that I consider for a long time. I miss it. I miss my zone partners and the fun we used to have working alongside one another. But in reality, I can't afford to go back. I'd take a huge pay cut, and as much as I miss FHP, that in and of itself is not worth it. Maybe when I retire I can become an FHPA trooper.
It's a tough decision to make though because right off the back you will take a pay cut. But good luck!

Unregistered · 07-24-2018, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Alright, so the title says it all! I started my career as an FHP trooper and I loved it! The freedom, the work ethics that was instilled in us from day one (although you always have that one or two who were lazy AF) and everything about being a trooper was great. I even deployed to hurricane ravaged counties, superbowl in Jacksonville, BCR Daytona, Daytona 500, Pepsi 400, Homestead speedway and many more.... Special details were great, fun and the OT came in handy. And the SOAR and offduty were good too. I made over 90K every year, except my first because I was a rookie and didn't know how the offduty/soar really worked.

But then the story changed. I was GONE away from my family for too long. I missed parties, family BBQ's, outings with friends, and a bunch of other stuff because I HAD to work. I couldn't balance personal life with work life because I needed the money. FHP base salary was NOT enough to live a "regular life", not for a family of 3. Oh did i mentioned I was stationed in South Florida? Yeah, where the cost of living is HIGHER than most places in FL.
So I started looking and found a decent department, with great pay, benefits, a step plan and in the FRS system too. SO coming over was not a hard decision to make.

Going back to FHP is something that I consider for a long time. I miss it. I miss my zone partners and the fun we used to have working alongside one another. But in reality, I can't afford to go back. I'd take a huge pay cut, and as much as I miss FHP, that in and of itself is not worth it. Maybe when I retire I can become an FHPA trooper.
It's a tough decision to make though because right off the back you will take a pay cut. But good luck!

Thank you for your response. As I already have a pension from up north, the city pension, and a military pension when I hit 60, would you go to FHP if you were in my shoes?? $90K ....wow. How much a week or month would you have to work to make that? Thanks again for your response.