ONE in three of London’s police officers earn more than £50,000 a year, a new study of government figures has revealed.
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That works out as over 10,000 officers out of 33,000 in the Met who are paid over the 50k mark, putting them all in the top ten per cent of earners in the country.
Research by the Daily Telegraph shows that pay in the police on a national level has shot up in recent times, with the number earning in excess of £50,000 rising by 25 per cent in a year and the bulk of those high earning coppers are in London.
There are also 12 officers in the Met on more than £150,000, while Sir Iain Blair, the man at the top in the period covered by the survey (2008/2009), pulled in over £580,000.
Wages are likely to have increased between 2009 and 2010.
The police explained their whopping pay packets by reference to terrorism.
Those earning more than £50,000 were “often those working long hours of overtime on counter terrorist and serious crime operations,” said Peter Fahy of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
“These often involve round-the-clock surveillance work and long hours of duty and lengthy periods away from home. In many posts officers do not get the choice whether to work overtime or not.”
“It would be more expensive to halt investigations because officers had gone into an overtime period.”