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Fort Walton Beach 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.
Fort Walton Beach Police Department starts at $50,937 a year — about $24.49 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $15,747 below the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $17,203 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Florida run about 3% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $49,256 somewhere at average prices — $1,682 less than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 122 against a national average of 100, where goods are 98. 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 isFort Walton Beach Police Department reported 50 sworn officers and 19 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 21,253.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 Fort Walton Beach says about itself
The Police Department is responsible for protecting and promoting community safety, ensuring the safe and orderly movement of traffic, and seeking solutions to any problems that threaten the quality of life in the City of Fort Walton Beach. Through its community policing initiative, the Department uses innovative approaches to problem-solving and crime prevention. The Fort Walton Beach Police Department is a full-service Department. The Department operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
What Fort Walton Beach does
The Fort Walton Beach Police Department is the municipal force for Fort Walton Beach in Okaloosa County, on Florida's Emerald Coast. It operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and maintains a Patrol Division, Community Policing Unit, Criminal Investigation Division, Crime Scene Investigation, SWAT, a Hostage Negotiation Team, a Gang Suppression Unit, K-9, recruitment and background investigations units and an Honor Guard. ITS PATROL DIVISION RUNS TWO PLATOONS, ALPHA AND BRAVO, ON 12-HOUR DAY AND NIGHT SHIFTS for round-the-clock coverage, each squad under a Patrol Sergeant.
Shifts at Fort Walton Beach
Fort Walton Beach runs its patrol division as two platoons, Alpha and Bravo, on 12-hour day and night shifts for round-the-clock coverage, each squad under a patrol sergeant.
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.
Two platoons covering the clock means your day and night blocks are the whole schedule. BlueShifts marks each worked day with its type - sun, moon or the amber clock for a 24-hour tour - so a month of days and nights reads at a glance.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 27 August 2026. Police Department Pay Grade / Step Table 2025-2026 (Sworn), City of Fort Walton Beach. — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 October 2025.
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.
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.
How this level compares
Where Fort Walton Beach 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. Fort Walton Beach starts at $50,937, so $17,203 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Fort Walton Beach Police Department officer make?
Fort Walton Beach Police Department starts a new officer on $50,937 a year, about $24.49 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 Police Department Pay Grade / Step Table 2025-2026 (Sworn), City of Fort Walton Beach..
Is that good pay for a police officer in Florida?
It ranks #243 of 303 agencies we have verified in Florida — 60 pay less, 242 pay more in the state — and #2,036 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $15,747 below, and against other municipal agencies $17,203 below.
What shifts do Fort Walton Beach Police Department officers work?
Fort Walton Beach runs its patrol division as two platoons, Alpha and Bravo, on 12-hour day and night shifts for round-the-clock coverage, each squad under a patrol sergeant. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Fort Walton Beach 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 FL
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Fort | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton Police Services Department | Municipal | 195 | $91,007 | +$40,070 | #244 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale Police Department | Municipal | 565 | $81,723 | +$30,786 | #433 |
| 3 | Plantation Police Department | Municipal | 164 | $81,000 | +$30,063 | #459 |
| 4 | Hillsboro Beach Police Department | Municipal | 15 | $80,954 | +$30,017 | #461 |
| 5 | Pinecrest Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $80,912 | +$29,974 | #464 |
| 6 | Sunny Isles Beach Police Department | Municipal | 65 | $80,000 | +$29,063 | #496 |
| 7 | Indian Creek Village Public Safety Department | Municipal | 10 | $79,850 | +$28,913 | #500 |
| 8 | Sunrise Police Department | Municipal | 190 | $79,071 | +$28,134 | #520 |
| 9 | Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office | County | 1,720 | $78,828 | +$27,891 | #526 |
| 10 | Aventura Police Department | Municipal | 91 | $78,556 | +$27,618 | #536 |
| 11 | Longboat Key Police Department | Municipal | 19 | $78,430 | +$27,493 | #543 |
| 12 | Manalapan Police Department | Municipal | 13 | $78,280 | +$27,343 | #549 |
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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