I wouldn’t begrudge a more handsome remuneration to police personnel (that’s a rather small part of a police budget) IF, in return, retention could be based strictly upon merit evaluations into which integrity would be an essential element that couldn’t be outweighed by other factors.
If these were conducted solely by a rotating board of average citizens, I wouldn't care how handsomly were paid. The point was that a police presence, even a mannequin in a squad car, does deter criminal behavior. It doesn't need to cost 50, 100 or 200k a year.