Douglas County Sheriff's Office entry pay

What Douglas County says about itself

The Uniform Patrol Division operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and is the first responder to crimes committed within the physical boundaries of Douglas County.

What Douglas County does

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office polices the county immediately west of Atlanta from Douglasville, on the far side of the Chattahoochee from Cobb. Its Uniform Patrol Division runs around the clock as the first responder for everything inside the county line, backed by a dozen named divisions - civil, court services, criminal investigations, fugitive and warrants, the jail, professional standards, records, SCOPE, special operations, training and transports. Deputies work days, nights, weekends and holidays. The office runs its own application platform for the second stage of hiring and takes recruits either certified or uncertified, putting the uncertified through the Georgia P.O.S.T. academy. Its stated mission for patrol is the plainest form of the job: to serve and protect the citizens of Douglas County.

Where the figure comes from

Checked 22 September 2026. Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Employment, under CERTIFIED DEPUTY: "$58,499.97 to $73,696.76 (based on experience and certifications)", with the requirement "Must have completed the Peace Officers' Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training". The DEPUTY SHERIFF RECRUIT entry beneath it reads "$53,061.37 to $62,431.57 annually ($24.29 to $28.59 hourly) plus benefits package" and requires only that the applicant "have or be willing to complete" the same academy. — open the source document
$58,499.97 is printed as an annual by the Sheriff's Office. TWO DEPUTY RATES ARE PUBLISHED AND THE REQUIREMENT LINES SEPARATE THEM CLEANLY. The Certified Deputy must have ALREADY COMPLETED the P.O.S.T. Basic Law Enforcement Training; the Deputy Sheriff Recruit must only "have or be willing to complete" it. So the recruit rate is the pre-academy wage and ends at academy completion, which is the disqualifier the standing rule names - the Lincoln County NV test - and the certified rate is the first post-academy sworn step. THE OFFICE CALLS THAT CERTIFIED POST ENTRY-LEVEL IN ITS OWN WORDS: "This position is an entry to advanced level law enforcement positions." THE FLOOR OF THE BAND IS THE NO-EXPERIENCE POINT BECAUSE THE OFFICE SAYS WHAT MOVES YOU UP IT: the band is "(based on experience and certifications)", and the certificate money is itemised separately and stated to be extra - "These increases are in addition to your base salary" - at 2.5% for Field Training Officer or Instructor, 2.5% Intermediate, 5.0% Advanced, 5.0% Supervisory and 5.0% Management. None of those is available to a new hire: Intermediate and Advanced both require completing the probationary period, FTO requires three years with this office, Supervisory a year as a supervisor and Management the rank of Captain. So the base band is clean and $58,499.97 is its floor. ONE ODDITY WORTH RECORDING: the recruit band's top, $62,431.57, is ABOVE the certified band's floor, so the two overlap - the recruit range appears to carry someone through certification rather than stopping at it. That does not change which rate a certified deputy starts on. Excluded: everything above, plus the non-cash benefits the page lists - free 24/7 gym access, free meals on duty, uniforms and equipment, three personal holidays, twelve paid holidays and 10.5 days of sick leave.
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 Douglas County 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office officer make?

Douglas County Sheriff's Office starts a new officer on $58,500 a year, about $28.12 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 Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Employment, under CERTIFIED DEPUTY: "$58,499.97 to $73,696.76 (based on experience and certifications)", with the requirement "Must have completed the Peace Officers' Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training". The DEPUTY SHERIFF RECRUIT entry beneath it reads "$53,061.37 to $62,431.57 annually ($24.29 to $28.59 hourly) plus benefits package" and requires only that the applicant "have or be willing to complete" the same academy..

Is that good pay for a police officer in Georgia?

It ranks #26 of 80 agencies we have verified in Georgia — 54 pay less, 25 pay more in the state — and #1,653 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $8,185 below, and against other county agencies $5,060 below.

The agencies either side of it