01-16-2008, 05:40 PM
This is from officer.com/wy----I was a cop in Houston, Texas for 10 years before I became a Wyoming State Trooper. I have been stationed in Laramie for about a year now, and as for my town there is plenty of affordable housing. A good friend of mine (I worked with in Texas) came up here with me and got assigned to Rawlins - he was not so lucky and just now found a house after working there for 8 months. WHP allowed him to stay for free in a state owned house in Wamsutter while he found a good house in Rawlins.... There are several assignments that come with a free state-owned house (includes utilities). Elk Mountain is one of them (between Laramie and Rawlins) and they have an opening right now.
The pay scale goes up alot with each promotion, which comes pretty easy with time. You will get regular overtime, which you can now choose to take as OT pay on your paycheck, or bank as comp time to build up extra days off to take whenever you want. Remember when they put a salary on the website, it is only the starting base salary. You get a $75 a month clothing allowance to pay for dry cleaning & uniform issues, shift differential pay for all hours worked between 1800-0600 hrs, On-Call pay for hours you are on-call ($1 hr - but it adds up over a month)... So my December paycheck was over $4000, which is not my best month, but average. Health insurance for my entire family of 5 (3 little girls) runs $143.66 a month. The retirement program is entirely paid for by the state. My Dec pay stub reflects $875 paid into my retirement account on my behalf.
We also have a deferred comp voluntary retirement account, and if you choose to participate, the state will match your contribution dollar for dollar up to $20 a month - more free money!
You earn one sick day and one vacation day per month. That adds up pretty fast. Every time a holiday (which pays double time and a half) falls with a workday between it and a weekend, the Governor will usually give a free personal day to make it one long holiday weekend. If you work on that day you can take your personal day whenever you want. If you are scheduled to be off on any state holiday - you can goto work and earn the big bucks for overtime if you want to. We also get grant money to work overtime whenever we want for things such as speed enforcement, construction zone enforcement, and DWI enforcement, etc.
Wyoming has very employee friendly programs, like the ability to donate sick leave to someone who needs more time off for an illness or emergency.
Jim answered your questions about take home cars... You order a brand new car when your car miles out at 75,000 miles. Depending on how much you drive, you can get a new car anywhere from 1-3 years. It seems 2 years is the average for most troopers. Your car will be 85-90k buy the time your new car comes in. You get to select what you want to drive - Ford CVPI, Chevy Impala, or Dodge Charger. If you live in an area that gets an unhealthy amount of snow, the Dodge Durango 4x4 is an option for you as well. The equipment is good. Standard issue is the top of the line Stalker Radar. If you haven't been around speed radar before this will mean nothing to you, but it is the holy grail of radars. No shadowing & always displays the correct patrol car speed because it is physically tied into the speedometer cable. It can track front and rear radar targets at the same time - and with 5 windows you can actually track 4 vehicles at once. It also automatically switches between stationary and moving mode when you stop or go... It is awesome. The radio system is Motorola, and we are all getting new camera systems right now that are fully digital with a front, rear, and prisoner cage camera. It has event pre-record for two cameras, and is GPS enabled so if you can see where your car is during the recording - this is great if during a pursuit the suspects toss out some drugs or a gun, or just their McDonalds bag - you can mark that spot on the DVR and go back to the exact spot you witnessed it later.
Every car has a CB as standard equipment for late night entertainment.
You may add accessories (in moderation) to your car, such as XM radio, etc.
Your car is set up to your specs, so you decided if you want a push bumper, fog lights, flashing capable side spot light, where and how you want your rifle rack mounted for your issued AR-15. (Everything in the world is issued to you by the way). Some things are non-negotiable, such as where the rifle release button is located in the car - some things are important to remain standardized with the entire fleet for obvious reasons.
OK... what else did you ask about?... Oh yea - shifts... To expand on what Jim already told you, most divisions work 8 hour shifts. There are a few divisions that work 10 hr shifts, but that is rare. Laramie is on 8's, and we alternate between days and evenings. I prefer working nights, so I am paired with someone who prefers working days - so we trade shifts and I work 6 weeks of nights, then 2 weeks of days. (Lt wants to see our smiling faces at least 2 weeks of the cycle)
Day shift is anywhere between 0600-1400 or 0700-1500. Night shift is between 1500-2300 or 1600-2400. (You choose) On any shift choice you may take an hour off to go home for lunch/dinner and expand your shift by an hour. If you eat fast you can take two 20 minute breaks during your 8 hrs (how most guys here eat). Scheduling is very flexible - so if you need to go off duty for a couple of hours for your daughter's church choir performance, you just do it.
The most important thing to me about WHP as an agency - that is lacking in most other law enforcement agencies... "TRUST".
They really do trust you to just go out and do your job. Nobody looks over your shoulder or questions your actions. The hiring process is selective, and once they choose you, they trust you to just go out and do the right thing.
If you have any more questions, just ask!
The pay scale goes up alot with each promotion, which comes pretty easy with time. You will get regular overtime, which you can now choose to take as OT pay on your paycheck, or bank as comp time to build up extra days off to take whenever you want. Remember when they put a salary on the website, it is only the starting base salary. You get a $75 a month clothing allowance to pay for dry cleaning & uniform issues, shift differential pay for all hours worked between 1800-0600 hrs, On-Call pay for hours you are on-call ($1 hr - but it adds up over a month)... So my December paycheck was over $4000, which is not my best month, but average. Health insurance for my entire family of 5 (3 little girls) runs $143.66 a month. The retirement program is entirely paid for by the state. My Dec pay stub reflects $875 paid into my retirement account on my behalf.
We also have a deferred comp voluntary retirement account, and if you choose to participate, the state will match your contribution dollar for dollar up to $20 a month - more free money!
You earn one sick day and one vacation day per month. That adds up pretty fast. Every time a holiday (which pays double time and a half) falls with a workday between it and a weekend, the Governor will usually give a free personal day to make it one long holiday weekend. If you work on that day you can take your personal day whenever you want. If you are scheduled to be off on any state holiday - you can goto work and earn the big bucks for overtime if you want to. We also get grant money to work overtime whenever we want for things such as speed enforcement, construction zone enforcement, and DWI enforcement, etc.
Wyoming has very employee friendly programs, like the ability to donate sick leave to someone who needs more time off for an illness or emergency.
Jim answered your questions about take home cars... You order a brand new car when your car miles out at 75,000 miles. Depending on how much you drive, you can get a new car anywhere from 1-3 years. It seems 2 years is the average for most troopers. Your car will be 85-90k buy the time your new car comes in. You get to select what you want to drive - Ford CVPI, Chevy Impala, or Dodge Charger. If you live in an area that gets an unhealthy amount of snow, the Dodge Durango 4x4 is an option for you as well. The equipment is good. Standard issue is the top of the line Stalker Radar. If you haven't been around speed radar before this will mean nothing to you, but it is the holy grail of radars. No shadowing & always displays the correct patrol car speed because it is physically tied into the speedometer cable. It can track front and rear radar targets at the same time - and with 5 windows you can actually track 4 vehicles at once. It also automatically switches between stationary and moving mode when you stop or go... It is awesome. The radio system is Motorola, and we are all getting new camera systems right now that are fully digital with a front, rear, and prisoner cage camera. It has event pre-record for two cameras, and is GPS enabled so if you can see where your car is during the recording - this is great if during a pursuit the suspects toss out some drugs or a gun, or just their McDonalds bag - you can mark that spot on the DVR and go back to the exact spot you witnessed it later.
Every car has a CB as standard equipment for late night entertainment.
You may add accessories (in moderation) to your car, such as XM radio, etc.
Your car is set up to your specs, so you decided if you want a push bumper, fog lights, flashing capable side spot light, where and how you want your rifle rack mounted for your issued AR-15. (Everything in the world is issued to you by the way). Some things are non-negotiable, such as where the rifle release button is located in the car - some things are important to remain standardized with the entire fleet for obvious reasons.
OK... what else did you ask about?... Oh yea - shifts... To expand on what Jim already told you, most divisions work 8 hour shifts. There are a few divisions that work 10 hr shifts, but that is rare. Laramie is on 8's, and we alternate between days and evenings. I prefer working nights, so I am paired with someone who prefers working days - so we trade shifts and I work 6 weeks of nights, then 2 weeks of days. (Lt wants to see our smiling faces at least 2 weeks of the cycle)
Day shift is anywhere between 0600-1400 or 0700-1500. Night shift is between 1500-2300 or 1600-2400. (You choose) On any shift choice you may take an hour off to go home for lunch/dinner and expand your shift by an hour. If you eat fast you can take two 20 minute breaks during your 8 hrs (how most guys here eat). Scheduling is very flexible - so if you need to go off duty for a couple of hours for your daughter's church choir performance, you just do it.
The most important thing to me about WHP as an agency - that is lacking in most other law enforcement agencies... "TRUST".
They really do trust you to just go out and do your job. Nobody looks over your shoulder or questions your actions. The hiring process is selective, and once they choose you, they trust you to just go out and do the right thing.
If you have any more questions, just ask!