Brandon Police Department entry pay

What Brandon says about itself

We are a solution-oriented law enforcement agency whose mission is to enforce laws fairly, reinforce public trust, and inspire public confidence.

What Brandon does

The Brandon Police Department polices a town of about 3,700 people in west-central Vermont, midway between Middlebury and Rutland at the foothills of the Green Mountains, and works from 301 Forest Dale Road with administrative staff in the lobby from 8am to 4pm and an officer reachable at any other hour by the lobby telephone. When fully staffed it runs seven full-time officers, two Level II part-time officers and an administrative assistant, under a Chief with a Lieutenant over the patrol shift. It carries a wide set of specialty assignments for an agency of its size - motorcycle and motor patrol, drone pilot, traffic and H.E.A.T. enforcement, use-of-force, firearms and Taser instructor, and death investigator - and promotes an officer in good standing to Patrol Officer First Class automatically after two years of service, with the ranks of Corporal, Sergeant and Lieutenant above that. Officers and staff are held to the Department's stated values of Honesty, Loyalty, Professionalism, Integrity, Courage and Respect.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 1 September 2026. Brandon Police Department Employment page, Full Time Patrol Officer: "Academy training is paid at $30.69 an hour, Level II certified officers start at $32.30 an hour, and Level III certified officers start at $34.00 an hour" — open the source document
Class: Police Officer, full-time, at the Level III certified starting step. The Department's own employment page prices the rank three ways in one paragraph - academy training paid at $30.69 an hour, Level II certified officers starting at $32.30 an hour, and Level III certified officers starting at $34.00 an hour - and the Level III rate is the one taken, the post-academy officer rate, the same reading already applied to Rutland City and South Burlington. $34.00 on a 2,080-hour year is $70,720, which is the figure the Town states in its own words in its Police Officer notice: a union position with a starting salary of $70,720. Trainee class: NO. Prior sworn service is NOT required - the same page says applicants without certification are encouraged to apply and are paid the academy rate while attending the Vermont Criminal Justice Council's full-time academy, and officers who are already certified are placed at a higher step for their previous years of service, which is what proves $34.00 is the non-lateral entry step. Additional hourly pay is paid for night differential and on-call; uniforms, firearms and equipment are supplied; retirement is VMERS. Department's own page, checked 1 September 2026. NOTE FOR THE RECHECK: the Town is migrating from townofbrandon.com to brandonvermont.gov and the Department's page has already moved to brandonvermont.gov/1200/Police; the employment page had not moved with it when this was checked.
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 Brandon sits is partly about the agency and partly about which level of policing it belongs to. The three levels do not pay the same.

How it ranks

Common questions

How much does a Brandon Police Department officer make?

Brandon Police Department starts a new officer on $70,720 a year, about $34.00 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 Brandon Police Department Employment page, Full Time Patrol Officer: "Academy training is paid at $30.69 an hour, Level II certified officers start at $32.30 an hour, and Level III certified officers start at $34.00 an hour".

Is that good pay for a police officer in Vermont?

It ranks #5 of 16 agencies we have verified in Vermont — 11 pay less, 4 pay more in the state — and #899 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,035 above, and against other municipal agencies $2,580 above.

The agencies either side of it