While their duty is to protect and serve, some Baltimore County Police officers have found themselves grappling with frustrating pay discrepancies.

According to Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police President Dave Rose, a number of officers are either being underpaid or overpaid due to errors in their compensation.

“It just makes people angry,” Rose stated. “You expect to bring home a certain amount of pay every two weeks, and you’re not.”

He elaborated, “We have people who are paid too much, and we have people who aren’t paid enough. They are either paid one or two steps higher on the pay scale or one or two steps lower.”

Rose said that whenever they come across an officer affected by this issue, they attempt to get it rectified. However, for many, the problem persists without resolution.

“There are examples of people that two years ago have said I am being paid incorrectly, and it’s not fixed yet,” he revealed.

In some cases, Rose noted that officers may have to wait a month or two to receive their overtime pay. He attributes these delays to an antiquated paper-based system.

“For some reason, we have chosen to keep our little pieces of paper and write overtime down,” Rose criticized. “Those little pieces of paper get signed by your boss like we did in the ’80s.”

“What are we doing? We pay for a system to go paperless, and we still keep it paper,” he questioned.

According to the Baltimore County website, the county launched the first phase of Workday, a new management system, in July 2022. In an email response, a county spokesperson acknowledged that while most departments utilize the online Workday platform, the police department and other large agencies “continue to utilize some paper records as needed.”

The spokesperson stated, “When any individual potential compensation discrepancies are identified, each department initiates a review of the member’s compensation and takes the necessary steps to address concerns.”

“The County is continuing to implement its new payroll and timekeeping system and remains focused on addressing any potential issues,” the spokesperson added.

However, for officers affected by these pay errors, the ongoing issues represent a frustrating lapse in compensation for their vital work in serving and protecting the community.