Most of us don’t think often about state troopers. After all, we usually don’t see them every day in our own local communities, and we take it for granted that we can depend upon them to show up if they’re needed.  They got our attention just recently, however, on the television news with a plea for higher pay.

We always assumed their salaries were satisfactory. After all, here in Maine, it’s really the highest rung of the ladder, after local and county law enforcement. We weren’t prepared to hear that the starting salary for a state trooper here is $18.57 per hour or that it is much lower than in other New England states. We were also unaware that the Maine State Police currently has 32 vacancies and it was easy to understand why they’re not inundated with applicants. To make matters worse, 25 troopers are eligible for retirement this year. Many of those interested in law enforcement careers are choosing to work at local or county levels where the pay is higher.

The Legislature is scrambling to agree on where to find funds to give them raises, as well as game wardens and marine patrol officers which likewise are considered underpaid. Some folks were quick to remind us that many state troopers and others in this same pay category actually bring home rather large paychecks. How? They work overtime — lots of it. They have to, if they hope to support their families. They’re to be admired for their ambition, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re entitled to 40-hour wages which are in keeping with the times. While some will argue that a starting salary of $18 an hour is more than many Maine workers earn, most of us aren’t expected to respond to someone’s house where an individual who is drunk or high on drugs is wielding a gun and threatening to harm other family members. We can also remain snug in our beds while an on-duty state trooper responds to a car crash and finds a couple of deceased teenagers then has the sobering duty of delivering the sad news to their parents. We’re also safe at home when he answers a call to a corner store robbery and is met by gunfire.

By the time this is published, legislators may have come up with a way to make adjustments to some of these pay scales, but for all of us, it has been a wake-up call that jobs that are dangerous and require special skills should likewise bring with them extra compensation.