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Norwich 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.
Norwich Police Department starts at $71,944 a year — about $34.59 an hour on a 2,080-hour year, before overtime. That is $4,677 above the median of the 2,053 agencies on this list, and $3,158 above the median for municipal agencies.
Cost of livingPrices in Connecticut run about 4% above the national average, so this is worth roughly $69,437 somewhere at average prices — $2,507 less than the headline figure. Most of that is utilities, at 146 against a national average of 100, where goods are 97. 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 isNorwich Police Department reported 76 sworn officers and 11 civilian staff to the FBI for 2025. That is 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents, over a population of 39,987.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.
About Norwich
The Norwich Police Department polices the city of Norwich in New London County, at the head of the Thames River in south-eastern Connecticut, from a facility at 70 Thames Street. Its sworn establishment under the UPSEU/COPS Local 104 agreement runs Police Officers, Sergeants, Lieutenants and a Captain, alongside part-time Relief Police Officers who are paid the entry hourly rate and carry a City-issued duty firearm on duty. The Chief may assign up to nine people, supervisors included, to the Detective Division on a regular basis, with two detectives and one supervisor on call each week and a 45-minute response requirement. Patrol officers work a forty-hour week of five eight-hour days and bid for shifts four times a year, taking effect on the first Sunday in January, April, July and October. The department runs thirteen paid holidays, with double time for all hours worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and pays monthly shift differentials for the evening and midnight tours.
Norwich’s rotation, in BlueShifts
Article 4.1 of the City's agreement with UPSEU/COPS Local 104 sets the work week for Police Officers, Sergeants, Lieutenants and the Captain at forty hours, eight hours a day, five consecutive days with two consecutive days off per week. Patrol officers bid for shift changes four times a year under Article 11.4, effective on the first Sunday in January, April, July and October, honoured by seniority with no bumping of a junior officer. Once assigned, regular hours may be changed on thirty-six hours' notice.
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
A five-and-two on eight-hour tours is the easy part; the quarterly bid is what moves. When your shift changes on the first Sunday of the quarter, change the tour in BlueShifts once and the rest of the year redraws itself, with the evening and midnight differentials sitting against the days that earned them.
Where the figure comes from
Checked 8 September 2026. Agreement between the City of Norwich and UPSEU/COPS Local 104, July 1 2023 - June 30 2028 — Appendix A, Police Wage Scale, POLICE OFFICER Step 1 (New hire), FY2026-27 — open the source document
Read 8 September 2026 from the City's own collective bargaining agreement, published in the City of Norwich Document Center. Article 14.2(a)(1)(a) states that 'Step I in Appendix A shall be the Entrance Rate of Pay', and Appendix A gives POLICE OFFICER Step 1, marked 'New hire', as $71,944.09 for FY2026-27, the year running from 1 July 2026. That is the figure the department is advertising now. The measure is settled by the contract itself: Step 2 is the rate 'upon successful completion of probationary period or entrance as a certified officer', and Article 23.4 allows the City to start a POST-certified officer 'at no higher than Step II', so Step 1 is the uncertified entry rate. New hires attend the Connecticut POST Council academy at the City's expense, with a refund obligation of $15,000 falling to $5,000 if they leave within three years. Steps 2 to 6, reached at probation, two, four, six and eight years, are excluded, as are the Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain scales. Relief Police Officers are paid the Step 1 hourly rate but are part-time and outside most of the contract.
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.
Entry pay through 2027
Every point is the entry-class annual base printed in the agency’s own pay document. Base pay only — no shift differential, incentives or allowances.
How this level compares
Where Norwich 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. Norwich starts at $71,944, so $3,158 above the municipal middle.
How it ranks
Common questions
How much does a Norwich Police Department officer make?
Norwich Police Department starts a new officer on $71,944 a year, about $34.59 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 Agreement between the City of Norwich and UPSEU/COPS Local 104, July 1 2023 - June 30 2028 — Appendix A, Police Wage Scale, POLICE OFFICER Step 1 (New hire), FY2026-27.
Is that good pay for a police officer in Connecticut?
It ranks #10 of 19 agencies we have verified in Connecticut — 9 pay less, 9 pay more in the state — and #750 of 2,053 nationally. Against the national median it is $4,677 above, and against other municipal agencies $3,158 above.
What shifts do Norwich Police Department officers work?
Article 4.1 of the City's agreement with UPSEU/COPS Local 104 sets the work week for Police Officers, Sergeants, Lieutenants and the Captain at forty hours, eight hours a day, five consecutive days with two consecutive days off per week. Patrol officers bid for shift changes four times a year under Article 11.4, effective on the first Sunday in January, April, July and October, honoured by seniority with no bumping of a junior officer. Once assigned, regular hours may be changed on thirty-six hours' notice. That is the agency's own published wording; the pattern is drawn on this page.
Compare with another department
Put Norwich 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 CT
| # | Agency | Level | Sworn # | Entry pay | Vs Norwich | National |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Windsor Police Department | Municipal | 41 | $87,483 | +$15,539 | #280 |
| 2 | Norwalk Police Department | Municipal | 184 | $82,116 | +$10,172 | #382 |
| 3 | Milford Police Department | Municipal | 105 | $81,237 | +$9,293 | #408 |
| 4 | Greenwich Police Department | Municipal | 142 | $78,704 | +$6,760 | #481 |
| 5 | Connecticut State Police | State | 955 | $76,625 | +$4,681 | #548 |
| 6 | Suffield Police Department | Municipal | 21 | $75,420 | +$3,476 | #600 |
| 7 | Fairfield Police Department | Municipal | 115 | $75,241 | +$3,297 | #611 |
| 8 | Stamford Police Department | Municipal | 278 | $72,881 | +$937 | #706 |
| 9 | Manchester Police Department | Municipal | 117 | $72,633 | +$689 | #720 |
| 11 | Wallingford Police Department | Municipal | 73 | $71,448 | −$496 | #778 |
| 12 | Bridgeport Police Department | Municipal | 321 | $71,192 | −$752 | #796 |
| 13 | Danbury Police Department | Municipal | 156 | $68,499 | −$3,445 | #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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