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Cheswold 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.
Cheswold Police Department starts at $57,500 a year — about $27.64 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $10,890 below the median of the 1,681 agencies on this list, and $13,764 below the median for municipal agencies.
How big the department isCheswold Police Department reported 4 sworn officers to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 2,718.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.
About Cheswold
Cheswold Police Department serves a small, fast-growing town in Kent County, Delaware, from Main Street, with around four full-time and three part-time officers. Officers patrol the town alongside the Delaware State Police and other agencies, with special duty patrols at various times of day, and the town has worked over more than a decade to build the department towards being self-sustaining. In January 2025 it became the thirteenth police agency in Delaware to earn state accreditation through the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission, meeting more than 105 professional standards after an on-site assessment. The department also takes part in a police accountability committee shared with Smyrna and Clayton.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 16 August 2026. Town of Cheswold — Police Employment, the town's own site — open the source document
The Town of Cheswold pays $54,000 or more during academy training, rising to $57,500 a year after academy graduation, with promotion to Patrolman First Class at $60,500 after the first full year of service. Academy training is paid at $26.00 an hour. Officers work a five-day week with no weekends and no overnight shifts, and join the take-home vehicle programme after field training. A lateral with four or more years starts at $69,500. Class: Patrolman — the rate on academy graduation | Post-academy: yes. Academy training is paid at $26.00 an hour, $54,000 or more a year; the next move above the published figure is $60,500 after the first full year of service, and a lateral with four or more years starts at $69,500.
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.
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How this level compares
Where Cheswold 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 | $35,006 | $71,287 | $163,619 | 1046 |
| County | $36,492 | $65,374 | $132,263 | 416 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,195 | $107,954 | 69 |
| State | $33,994 | $64,998 | $102,692 | 143 |
| 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 $2,200 more than the middle municipal agency and about $8,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,500 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Cheswold starts at $57,500, so $13,787 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Cheswold Police Department officer make?
Cheswold Police Department starts a new officer on $57,500 a year, about $27.64 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 Town of Cheswold — Police Employment, the town's own site.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Delaware?
It ranks #12 of 14 agencies we have verified in Delaware — 2 pay less, 11 pay more in the state — and #1,359 of 1,681 nationally. Against the national median it is $10,890 below, and against other municipal agencies $13,764 below.
Compare with another department
Put Cheswold 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 DE
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Cheswold | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware State Police | State | 783 | $91,265 | +$33,765 | #189 |
| 2 | New Castle City Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,338 | +$17,838 | #544 |
| 3 | University of Delaware Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 48 | $74,679 | +$17,179 | #570 |
| 4 | Middletown Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $74,550 | +$17,050 | #576 |
| 5 | New Castle County Police | County | 414 | $74,453 | +$16,953 | #582 |
| 6 | Dover Police Department | Municipal | 101 | $72,000 | +$14,500 | #668 |
| 7 | Newark Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $70,000 | +$12,500 | #767 |
| 8 | Selbyville Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $68,788 | +$11,288 | #824 |
| 9 | Seaford Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $68,474 | +$10,974 | #838 |
| 10 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $67,971 | +$10,471 | #864 |
| 11 | Wilmington Police Department | Municipal | 279 | $67,600 | +$10,100 | #888 |
| 13 | Delaware Capitol Police | State | — | $53,807 | −$3,693 | #1,475 |
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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