I have seen recruitment ads for police officers where the starting pay was shockingly low. We can’t afford to dumpster-dive for low quality applicants when the job is that important.
The pay is appropriate, and as it should be.
Military, law enforcement, and firefighting should be staffed by young people giving back to their country. As many people as possible should cycle through those jobs, and we do not need a government class of people as opposed to the rest of society. When they interact with the public, it should be with the awareness that they too will be the public in a few years.