Considering it costs about 20% more to live in New York City than Seattle, NYPD officers would have to earn about $80,000 to maintain the same standard of living as in Seattle.

I knew that things were getting obscenely expensive here in The People's Republic of Seattle, but I had no idea that we are only 20% less expensive than NYC....a sad testament to decades of hard-Left City administration here.

I agree with many of the posters at the New York Daily News site who are hopeful that this will spur a new look at Officers' salaries in the Big Apple....hopefully the city will begin to treat them better if they begin losing large numbers of recruits.

Seattle cost of living has skyrocketed the past decade due to higher taxes and government regulation.

Can someone please explain to me how this is “stealing”?

Will the city of NYC be offering a refund on bribes?

RE: NYPD recruits get a paltry $25,100 annual salary while they are in the academy. Their pay jumps to $32,800 after graduation and tops out at $59,588 after seven years.

The didn't add in "the pad" and other graft--

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be advised... the NYPD is NOT into the touchie feelie westcoast culture/lifestyle. careful what you wish for

Thoughts? I know that many guys who can't make the cut with the NYPD wind up down in South Florida. The better cops move down to places like Boca and become chiefs.;-)

Seattle is another world. These ladies and gents better be prepared for culture shock.

In NYC, if you want an armed bodyguard, you pretty much have to hire a moonlighting NYC cop. This makes a nice supplement to their salaries.

If the said ex-NYC cops are liberal as all get-out, they’ll fit in fine.

If they are just the slightest bit conservative, they’re in for absolute hell on Earth.

I’d rather castrate myself with a dull, rusty spoon than live in Seattle. To paraphrase the late W.C. Fields: “On the whole, I’d rather be in Texas.”

But then they’ll be a member of the Seattle Police Department.

UPDATE

Seattle not shy about luring NYPD cops

BY ALISON GENDAR and ETHAN ROUEN
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU

Saturday, April 5th 2008, 4:00 AM

Seattle police officials are not apologizing for attempting to steal cops from the NYPD by offering the city's Finest more money and a salary bonus to move.

"Police officers are free agents now," Sgt. Richard O'Neill, the head of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, told the Daily News. "Take a page from A-Rod.

"It's no secret that agencies across the nation are recruiting," O'Neill added. "Any time you can get an experienced officer, that's a big savings."

In a front-page exclusive, The News revealed Friday that the Seattle Police Department is paying for a huge billboard along the West Side Highway and papering bus shelters with recruiting ads.

Seattle is offering police recruits a $5,000 bonus to help cover moving expenses - and cops interested in applying don't even have to leave New York to take Seattle's written police exam.

The test is being offered April 19 at New York University. Of the 223 people who have signed up, about 20 are city cops, Seattle police said.

Seattle pays its recruits $47,334 a year, and the annual salary rises to a maximum pay of $67,045 after six years. NYPD recruits get a paltry $25,100 annual salary while they are in the academy. Their pay jumps to $32,800 after graduation and tops out at $59,588 after seven years.

The pay disparity is expected to get even larger, O'Neill said.

Seattle's officers are mere weeks away from signing a new contract that "will make us the highest paid" in Washington State, O'Neill said.

The recruiting billboard on the West Side Highway near 54th St. cost Seattle just $7,500. Unveiled a few days ago, it declares "A Job Like No Other" above the address for the department's recruiting Web site.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has blamed the NYPD's starting salary for hurting recruitment. The pay scale was imposed by an arbitration panel in 2005 after the city and police union couldn't reach a deal.

Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said Seattle isn't alone in coveting NYPD cops.

"The NYPD spends $100,000 on every cop it recruits," Lynch said. "Other departments swoop in, and they benefit from that experience - as well as [from] a police officer whose morale has increased tenfold, who can focus on policing and not racing to his second or third job."

agendar@nydailynews.com