Maryland ranks as the 5th best state for law-enforcement officers in a recent study released by WalletHub, a personal finance website. Connecticut ranks as number one.
The study looked at 30 metrics categorized into three scores. An overall score was calculated for each state and the District of Columbia. Starting salary, number of police officers and training time are three key metrics. Law-enforcement officers include police and sheriff’s patrol officers, detectives and criminal investigators.
Maryland received a total score of 56.34, placing it behind Connecticut (#1), California (#2), Illinois (#3), and D.C. (#4).
The other states in the top 10 are Massachusetts (#6), Minnesota (#7), Washington (#8), Colorado (#9) and Ohio (#10).
Data sources for the ranking include U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Projections Central State Occupational Projections, Council for Community and Economic Research, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Urban Institute, Institute for American Police Reform, The Officer Down Memorial Page, Mapping Police Violence, Murder Accountability Project, Ballotpedia, The National 911 Program, North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Blue Alert System, Institute of Criminal Justice Training Reform, AP News and the Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation.
