Police Officers in California and the Northeast make a lot higher than the national average.

I live in the northeast, and I'm currently looking into a career in Law Enforcement. Because of this, jobs in the area (Connecticut, New York, New Jersey) are stupidly competitive.

I'm currently working on a graduate degree just to get hired somewhere. And again, this is to be a standard Patrol Officer.

In my area the starting salary for a patrol officer is around $62,000 without overtime, working 40 hours a week on a 5-2/5-3 schedule. With average overtime, that can easily come out to $80,000+. Again, that's first year, and police salaries tend to grow with time in grade. After 7 years this average goes up to an average of $88,000 base pay, with average over $105,000 with overtime...Again, this is standard patrol, and without an promotions.

In my area the average Sergeant makes $110,000 base, the average Lieutenant makes $130,000 base, the average Captain makes $150,000 base, and the average Chief makes $220,000 base (these are usually the only salaried positions).

The highest paid officer in the largest town nearest to me makes nearly $275,000 a year, he is a Captain who commands the SRT (Special Response Team), which gets you an extra yearly pay percentage, and he works a large deal of overtime.

None of this includes the pension plan. Which in my state the average deal is after 20 years you get 50% of your top highest earning year and after 30 years you get 75% of your top highest earning year for the rest of your life.

Meaning that one officer I mentioned will get over $205,000 a year after he retires at 55 years old.

Not a bad career option, but again. Highly competitive in the area, no one gets job anymore (post recession, so I can't speak for the guy in the video as that was 2005) without at least a bachelor's degree, and many have graduate degrees, just to get in the door. Most high ranking officers have Doctorates or Law Degrees.