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Kenner 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.
Kenner Police Department starts at $54,700 a year — about $26.30 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $12,567 below the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $14,086 below the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Louisiana run about 12% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $62,013 would somewhere at average prices — $7,313 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 63 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isKenner Police Department reported 152 sworn officers and 77 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 64,250.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 Kenner says about itself
The Kenner Police Department's mission is to provide our community with the most effective and professional law enforcement and public safety services. We recognize and take pride in our continuous contribution to the quality of life in our community.
What Kenner does
The Kenner Police Department polices Jefferson Parish's largest city, a Mississippi River town of 64,250 west of New Orleans that carries Louis Armstrong International Airport, with 152 sworn officers and 77 civilian staff. Its Patrol Division is the largest in the department and answers most calls, working in numbered squads on twelve-hour shifts; alongside it are Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, Crime Scene, Traffic, K-9, Bicycle Patrol, a Special Response Team and SWAT, a Communications Section and the Kenner jail. The department runs a Citizens' Police Academy and a women's self-defense programme, and takes patrol requests through its own site and app.
Shifts at Kenner
The Department prices the shift alongside the pay on its own careers page: "Annual Salary: Starting $54,700.00 first year", "12 HOUR SHIFTS", with night shift differential pay listed separately as its own benefit. Its Patrol Division page adds the shape of the work - "The Patrol Division is the largest division within the Kenner Police Department. The Patrol Division delivers the majority of police services to the citizens of Kenner. Officers assigned to the Patrol Division are primarily responsible for deterring crime by maintaining a highly visible presence and rapid response times." - and the command staff biographies show patrol run in numbered squads, Squad 1 through Squad 3 and up.
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.
A twelve-hour shift means the year is counted in fortnights rather than weeks, and the night differential means it matters which of those twelve-hour blocks was a night. BlueShifts marks days and nights apart on the same calendar, so the pattern you are actually working is one screen rather than a memory.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 2 September 2026. Kenner Police Department — Police Officer — "Annual Salary: Starting $54,700.00 first year" — open the source document
Class: Police Officer, first year. The Department's own careers page prices the job in one line - "Annual Salary: Starting $54,700.00 first year" - and the page was last modified 27 February 2026. Trainee class: NO. There is no separate recruit grade in the pricing: the same page lists "LOUISIANA POST CERTIFICATION UPON GRADUATION OF POLICE ACADEMY" as a benefit of the job, which places the academy inside the first year rather than before it. Prior sworn service is NOT required - the stated qualifications are age 21, a high school diploma or GED, US citizenship, a Louisiana driver's license and a pass in the civil service test, which is the Louisiana municipal fire and police civil service route. Kenner runs its own Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board. Night shift differential pay and a take-home vehicle are listed separately and are not in the base figure. Department's own careers page, checked 2 September 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 Kenner 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 | $68,786 | $163,619 | 1372 |
| County | $35,000 | $64,438 | $132,263 | 459 |
| Special jurisdiction | $31,200 | $60,204 | $107,954 | 71 |
| State | $33,994 | $65,400 | $110,916 | 144 |
| 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 $4,700 more than the middle municipal agency and about $9,100 more than the middle county agency and about $13,300 more than the middle special jurisdiction agency and about $8,100 more than the middle state agency and about $45,300 more than the middle territory agency. Kenner starts at $54,700, so $14,086 below the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Kenner Police Department officer make?
Kenner Police Department starts a new officer on $54,700 a year, about $26.30 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 Kenner Police Department — Police Officer — "Annual Salary: Starting $54,700.00 first year".
Is that good pay for a police officer in Louisiana?
It ranks #4 of 28 agencies we have verified in Louisiana — 24 pay less, 3 pay more in the state — and #1,696 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $12,567 below, and against other municipal agencies $14,086 below.
What shifts do Kenner Police Department officers work?
The Department prices the shift alongside the pay on its own careers page: "Annual Salary: Starting $54,700.00 first year", "12 HOUR SHIFTS", with night shift differential pay listed separately as its own benefit. Its Patrol Division page adds the shape of the work - "The Patrol Division is the largest division within the Kenner Police Department. The Patrol Division delivers the majority of police services to the citizens of Kenner. Officers assigned to the Patrol Division are primarily responsible for deterring crime by maintaining a highly visible presence and rapid response times." - and the command staff biographies show patrol run in numbered squads, Squad 1 through Squad 3 and up. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Kenner 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 LA
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Kenner | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office | County | 916 | $58,200 | +$3,500 | #1,516 |
| 2 | Baton Rouge Police Department | Municipal | 544 | $58,000 | +$3,300 | #1,528 |
| 3 | Louisiana State Police | State | 1,192 | $57,680 | +$2,980 | #1,564 |
| 5 | New Orleans Police Department | Municipal | 906 | $54,421 | −$279 | #1,708 |
| 6 | Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — Enforcement Division | State | — | $53,997 | −$703 | #1,729 |
| 7 | Gretna Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $49,118 | −$5,582 | #1,898 |
| 8 | Lake Charles Police Department | Municipal | 138 | $48,500 | −$6,200 | #1,910 |
| 9 | Alexandria Police Department | Municipal | 93 | $48,271 | −$6,429 | #1,919 |
| 10 | Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $45,000 | −$9,700 | #1,980 |
| 11 | Covington Police Department | Municipal | 45 | $43,672 | −$11,028 | #1,998 |
| 12 | Sulphur Police Department | Municipal | 61 | $43,553 | −$11,147 | #1,999 |
| 13 | Bossier City Police Department | Municipal | 200 | $42,576 | −$12,124 | #2,005 |
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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