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Dover 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.
Dover Police Department starts at $72,000 a year — about $34.62 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,315 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $3,860 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Dover, DE run about 2% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $73,841 would somewhere at average prices — $1,841 more than the headline figure. Based on price levels for this metropolitan 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 isDover Police Department reported 101 sworn officers and 34 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 40,389.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 Dover says about itself
It is the mission of the Dover Police Department to proudly serve the community by protecting the life and property of its citizens, enforcing the law, and working in partnership with the public to enhance the quality of life and nurture public trust by holding ourselves to the highest standards of performance and ethics.
What Dover does
Dover Police Department has served the capital of Delaware since 1925, employing over 100 sworn officers alongside professional staff for a city of nearly 40,000 residents and a considerably larger daytime population. Its patrol unit — the backbone of the department — consists of four platoons of twelve officers each, providing police services 24 hours a day every day of the year and responding first to collisions, medical emergencies, criminal complaints and calls for assistance. Each platoon is supervised by a sergeant acting as platoon leader, assisted by two section leaders usually holding the rank of master corporal, who serve as street supervisors while carrying patrol duties of their own. The city is home to Dover Air Force Base.
Shifts at Dover
Dover's patrol unit is four platoons of twelve officers, each under a sergeant platoon leader assisted by two master-corporal section leaders, covering the city 24 hours a day every day of the year.
Four platoons covering the clock means your hours and the people around you move together through the year. BlueShifts holds your pattern and lets you share it, so anyone who needs to know when you are on can see it.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 16 August 2026. City of Dover Police Department — Salary & Benefits, the department's own site — open the source document
Their source is effective 10 August 2026.
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 Dover 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. Dover starts at $72,000, so $3,860 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Dover Police Department officer make?
Dover Police Department starts a new officer on $72,000 a year, about $34.62 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 City of Dover Police Department — Salary & Benefits, the department's own site.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Delaware?
It ranks #8 of 18 agencies we have verified in Delaware — 10 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #814 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,315 above, and against other municipal agencies $3,860 above.
What shifts do Dover Police Department officers work?
Dover's patrol unit is four platoons of twelve officers, each under a sergeant platoon leader assisted by two master-corporal section leaders, covering the city 24 hours a day every day of the year. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Dover 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 Dover | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware State Police | State | 783 | $91,265 | +$19,265 | #238 |
| 2 | New Castle City Police Department | Municipal | — | $75,338 | +$3,338 | #660 |
| 3 | University of Delaware Police Department | Special jurisdiction | 48 | $74,679 | +$2,679 | #690 |
| 4 | Middletown Police Department | Municipal | 38 | $74,550 | +$2,550 | #696 |
| 5 | New Castle County Police | County | 414 | $74,453 | +$2,453 | #702 |
| 6 | Georgetown Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $74,000 | +$2,000 | #719 |
| 7 | Millsboro Police Department | Municipal | 17 | $73,560 | +$1,560 | #733 |
| 9 | Ocean View Police Department | Municipal | 14 | $72,000 | same | #816 |
| 10 | Newark Police Department | Municipal | 72 | $70,000 | −$2,000 | #936 |
| 11 | Selbyville Police Department | Municipal | 10 | $68,788 | −$3,212 | #1,005 |
| 12 | Seaford Police Department | Municipal | 31 | $68,474 | −$3,526 | #1,021 |
| 13 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 35 | $67,971 | −$4,029 | #1,059 |
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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