For a largely rural western state, the cost of living is very high here. Those pay rates are heinous, and well below the pay levels in most local agencies.
WSP is in a weird position. They start their new hires as cadets, and they may work a while in odd positions before attending the academy. All they have is a short "arming class" if they work that way. I have not seen consistent practices, and they may vary on this depending on where they are in the hiring cycle. The cadets, even if working armed, are not in the regular WSP pension system, but the same one as a non-commissioned public employees are. That training pay goes up a significant step after completing the academy. (A program which does not and never has met state standards; WSP personnel were certified by amendment of the certification statute after the Brame debacle in 2003. Until then, WSP personnel had to attend the lateral academy if they went to a real police agency, unless they were forced to do a full academy or were hired before the effective date of the certification statute.)
I regularly see troopers do stuff that would have them failing FTO at another agency for safety violations.
WSP has a hell of a PR program, but they are flat out abusive to their employees; most of the troopers I know have no respect for the command staff, and the agency has as far as I know the worst civil litigation rights and tort litigation history in the state. Both citizens and employees beat the hell out of them in civil court cases on a regular basis, and I have heard from credible sources data about the rate of overturned discipline (all of the last 23 arbitrations have resulted in reversal). Having read some of the rulings, and knowing a guy who was on one of the more significant cases as a board member, I am not surprised. The incompetence and dishonesty in their IA function is amazing. Clearly the dregs of the agency. There is a matter that WSP is trying to cover up now after at first trying to fire and prosecute personnel for actions that were both within policy and approved in advance; they have gone roughly 3 years past the due date for the review hearings because there are so many senior personnel exposed to serious legal problems (civil and criminal) that the Patrol is not willing to address it. (I know a prosecutor who got dragged into that mess, and his opinion of what happened there would peel the paint off a battleship.)
This is not unique. They had a case a few years back in which 2 investigators flat out lied to obtain a warrant, and it cost them millions in a settlement (they had no defense). Friends at the Patrol who got dragged into the mess wanted to arrest the two idiots at the scene, and advocated at least firing the Lt. and Capt. above them for dereliction if not prosecuting them for rendering criminal assistance to the perjury. (Said Lt. has been promoted twice since then.)
That agency is a lawless, dysfunctional adhocracy at best. A friend of mine, one of the most respect prosecutors in the state at the time and now a judge, used to give me a hard time about my attitude until he had an experience that left him calling me an "apologist for the WSP" in public. His contempt for their top people became so great that I told him I did not think the Chiefs were smart enough to be as corrupt as they appear, he replied that "it does take thought to have a bad mens rea."
They're also well below the top 100 in pay rate for the state of Washington, even with the boost for being assigned to certain west side counties. They have been unable to recruit adequate numbers for several years in part because of pay, and in part because the agency has such an awful reputation as a place to work. Likewise the crime lab folks, except a couple who famously have gone out in blazes of excrement, and their pay is so bad that keeping their good folks is almost impossible. The labs are staffed and equipped at maybe 1/4 of the level they should be. In spite of the PR program and the enablers in the legislature who refuse to take action to address the mess, they also can't get anywhere near the resources needed for the good folks who carry the load.
It's a shame, because most of the troopers I have met professionally are good folks, and their Sergeants are too. Above that rank, mediocre at best and some of the worst filth I have ever seen in LE uniforms have been Captains and above. It will take at least 10, probably 20 years of having outsiders fill all or nearly all of the positions above Lt. to fix that place.
Guaranteed house loan, 2 cars loan approval, and the boat.
