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Abbeville Police Department entry pay
What this agency pays a new officer to start, and how that compares with the rest of the country.
Entry pay onlyEvery salary here is what an officer is paid on day one, out of the academy — base pay on a 40-hour week, with no overtime, shift differential, specialty or education pay counted. Nobody stays on it.
Abbeville Police Department starts at $40,000 a year — about $19.23 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $26,685 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $28,140 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Louisiana run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $45,348 would somewhere at average prices — $5,348 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 63 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. Based on state-wide price levels, because this agency is not tied to a single metro area, from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024. The salary above is what the employer publishes; this line is our arithmetic on it, and nothing on this site is ranked on it.
How big the department isAbbeville Police Department reported 23 sworn officers and 9 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.1 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 10,837.A rate is only meaningful for a city department, where the population served is the city’s own. Reporting to the FBI is voluntary, so a count can reflect a partial return as easily as a small agency, and the FBI asks that agencies not be compared on staffing. Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, 2025.
What Abbeville says about itself
At our department, we are driven by our commitment to service. Our officers are passionate about keeping our community safe and building positive relationships with our residents.
What Abbeville does
The Abbeville Police Department serves the city of Abbeville, the parish seat of Vermilion Parish in south-west Louisiana, from 304 Charity Street. It runs patrol, investigations, criminal intelligence and community policing alongside its own telecommunications room, and is led by a Chief of Police under the City of Abbeville. Its officers are paid monthly with a fifteen per cent rise after the first year, take a two per cent increase on each anniversary, and have single health cover paid in full by the City. Its work cycle is set by Louisiana statute rather than by the city alone: R.S. 33:2213 names Abbeville alongside Bossier City and New Iberia and prints the fortnight its officers work - thirty-six hours one week and forty-eight the next. The department's stated motto is Commitment to Service.
Abbeville’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2213(C) names this department and prints its fortnight: "The Bossier City Police Department, the New Iberia Police Department, and the Abbeville Police Department shall work a two-week cycle, thirty-six hours the first week and forty-eight hours the second week. During the first week, the officers shall work Sunday, be off Monday and Tuesday, and work Wednesday and Thursday. During the second week, they shall work Monday and Tuesday, be off Wednesday and Thursday, and work Friday and Saturday." Overtime across the cycle is worked out by dividing the hours by the number of weeks in it and paying on the amount by which that average exceeds forty.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
The agency publishes the shift length but not a named cycle. These are the 12-hour rotations departments most often build on it: Pitman, 4 on, 4 off, DuPont, Panama, 3-4-4-3.
Three twelve-hour days one week and four the next, with the weekend moving each time - that is a fortnight you cannot hold in your head, and the pay is measured across the whole cycle rather than by the week. BlueShifts draws the fourteen days onto real months and keeps the running hours where you can see them.
BlueShifts. Plan Your Year. Own Your Time.
The shift calendar built for your rotation, off-duty work, and life on and off the clock.
Save your shift schedule once and BlueShifts fills the rest of the year in.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 1 September 2026. Abbeville Police Department, Office of the Chief, Salary/Benefits sheet on the City of Abbeville site: Police Officer "$3333.33 per month" — open the source document
Class: Police Officer, starting rate. The Department's own Salary/Benefits sheet, published by the Office of the Chief on the City of Abbeville's site, states "$3333.33 per month" for a Police Officer, with a 15 per cent increase after the first year, 25 per cent on promotion to Sergeant and 50 per cent to Lieutenant. Twelve months at $3,333.33 is $39,999.96, which is the figure published - the annualisation is arithmetic on the employer's own monthly rate, not an estimate. Trainee class: NO. Prior sworn service is NOT required, and the sheet shows why the starting rate is city money alone: a P.O.S.T. CERTIFIED officer receives State Supplemental Pay of $500 a month only AFTER ONE YEAR of employment, so it sits on top of this figure rather than inside it - the same structure as New Iberia and the opposite of Alexandria, which folds the supplemental in from the start. Note that Abbeville states the supplemental at $500 a month where New Iberia and Sulphur state $600; recorded as each employer states it. Also on the sheet: every employee takes a 2 per cent salary increase on their anniversary date, single-employee health insurance paid in full by the City with family cover at $73.08 a check, 120 hours of vacation after one year rising to 192 after ten, 52 weeks of sick leave, and a gym membership at no cost. The sheet itself carries no date.
Entry-level base salary only. Overtime, bonuses, education incentives, shift
differentials, locality pay and lateral rates are excluded, so most officers earn more
than this.
How this level compares
Where Abbeville sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.
| Level | Lowest | Median | Highest | Agencies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal | $33,280 | $68,140 | $163,619 | 1549 |
| County | $35,000 | $63,565 | $132,263 | 516 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,166 | $110,916 | 145 |
| Federal | $70,477 | $73,502 | $86,530 | 5 |
| Territory | $16,640 | $28,236 | $43,354 | 9 |
Federal agencies pay the most to start
The middle federal agency starts at $73,502 — about $5,400 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,900 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,300 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Abbeville starts at $40,000, so $28,140 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Abbeville Police Department officer make?
Abbeville Police Department starts a new officer on $40,000 a year, about $19.23 an hour on a 2,080-hour year. That is base salary before overtime, bonuses, education incentives, shift differentials and locality pay, so most serving officers earn more. The figure comes from Abbeville Police Department, Office of the Chief, Salary/Benefits sheet on the City of Abbeville site: Police Officer "$3333.33 per month".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #16 of 28 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — 12 pay less, 15 pay more in the state — and #2,251 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $26,685 below, and against other municipal agencies $28,140 below.
What shifts do Abbeville Police Department officers work?
Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2213(C) names this department and prints its fortnight: "The Bossier City Police Department, the New Iberia Police Department, and the Abbeville Police Department shall work a two-week cycle, thirty-six hours the first week and forty-eight hours the second week. During the first week, the officers shall work Sunday, be off Monday and Tuesday, and work Wednesday and Thursday. During the second week, they shall work Monday and Tuesday, be off Wednesday and Thursday, and work Friday and Saturday." Overtime across the cycle is worked out by dividing the hours by the number of weeks in it and paying on the amount by which that average exceeds forty. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Abbeville Police Department side by side with any other agency on the site — the two salaries, what each is worth once local prices are counted, and which comes out ahead.
The agencies either side of it
Other agencies in LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Abbeville | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office | County | 916 | $58,200 | +$18,200 | #1,664 |
| 2 | Baton Rouge Police Department | Municipal | 544 | $58,000 | +$18,000 | #1,677 |
| 3 | Louisiana State Police | State | 1,192 | $57,680 | +$17,680 | #1,719 |
| 4 | Kenner Police Department | Municipal | 152 | $54,700 | +$14,700 | #1,877 |
| 5 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | +$14,421 | #1,894 |
| 6 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | +$13,997 | #1,917 |
| 7 | Gretna Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $49,118 | +$9,118 | #2,114 |
| 8 | Lake Charles Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $48,500 | +$8,500 | #2,129 |
| 9 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $48,271 | +$8,271 | #2,138 |
| 10 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | +$5,000 | #2,207 |
| 11 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | +$3,672 | #2,227 |
| 12 | Sulphur Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $43,553 | +$3,553 | #2,228 |
Base pay is only part of the year
Whatever the figure above, the rotation is what decides your year — which weekends you lose, when the changeovers land, what you can plan around. Save yours once and BlueShifts shows it a year ahead, with the off-duty jobs you take and what each one paid.
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