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Lafayette 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.
Lafayette Police Department starts at $72,539 a year — about $34.87 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $5,854 above the median of the 2,288 agencies on this list, and $4,399 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN run about 7% below the national average, so this goes about as far as $77,640 would somewhere at average prices — $5,101 more than the headline figure. Most of that is rent, at 76 against a national average of 100, where goods are 94. 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 isLafayette Police Department reported 142 sworn officers and 54 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 72,009.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 Lafayette says about itself
The mission of the Lafayette Police Department is to efficiently provide quality police service to our community by promoting a safe environment through a police-citizen partnership, with an emphasis on mutual trust, integrity, fairness, and professionalism.
What Lafayette does
Lafayette Police Department describes a police career focused on serving and protecting the community. Patrol officers work rotating 12-hour shifts and receive City-provided uniforms and equipment.
Lafayette’s rotation, in BlueShifts
The City states it on the same page as the pay: "Patrol officers work 12 hour shifts with rotating days off. Patrol officers have every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday as regularly scheduled days off." The same page prices the job - recruit officers at $72,539, first class officers at $80,549 on release from the Field Training Officer Program - and gives first class officers living in the city a take-home vehicle.
The rotation template screen — enter the cycle and the start date, and you are done.
DayNight24 hrsOff
Every month, already filled in — no typing, however far ahead you look.
September 2026
This cycle has its own page: how it works, and how to build it.
A rotating twelve means your weekends move on a cycle of their own. BlueShifts builds the rotation once and projects it forward.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 10 August 2026. Lafayette Police Department official Salary & Benefits page — open the source document
Their source is effective 1 January 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 Lafayette 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. Lafayette starts at $72,539, so $4,399 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Lafayette Police Department officer make?
Lafayette Police Department starts a new officer on $72,539 a year, about $34.87 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 Lafayette Police Department official Salary & Benefits page.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Indiana?
It ranks #8 of 46 agencies we have verified in Indiana — 38 pay less, 7 pay more in the state — and #787 of 2,288 nationally. Against the national median it is $5,854 above, and against other municipal agencies $4,399 above.
What shifts do Lafayette Police Department officers work?
The City states it on the same page as the pay: "Patrol officers work 12 hour shifts with rotating days off. Patrol officers have every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday as regularly scheduled days off." The same page prices the job - recruit officers at $72,539, first class officers at $80,549 on release from the Field Training Officer Program - and gives first class officers living in the city a take-home vehicle. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Lafayette 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 IN
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Lafayette | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bloomington Police Department | Municipal | 95 | $81,234 | +$8,695 | #452 |
| 2 | South Bend Police Department | Municipal | 246 | $80,240 | +$7,701 | #488 |
| 3 | MSD Wayne Township School Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $77,700 | +$5,161 | #566 |
| 4 | Columbus Police Department | Municipal | 88 | $74,984 | +$2,445 | #679 |
| 5 | Fishers Police Department | Municipal | 124 | $74,560 | +$2,021 | #695 |
| 6 | Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department | Municipal | — | $74,459 | +$1,920 | #701 |
| 7 | Fort Wayne Police Department | Municipal | 503 | $73,449 | +$910 | #740 |
| 9 | West Lafayette Police Department | Municipal | 47 | $72,391 | −$148 | #792 |
| 10 | Purdue University Police Department | Special jurisdiction | — | $72,137 | −$402 | #804 |
| 11 | Carmel Police Department | Municipal | 147 | $72,000 | −$539 | #813 |
| 12 | Indiana State Police | State | 1,171 | $70,000 | −$2,539 | #938 |
| 13 | Indiana Gaming Commission — Enforcement Division | State | — | $70,000 | −$2,539 | #939 |
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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