Weekly Alibi . Two weeks ago, Mayor Martin Chavez proposed that the city allocate more money to police pay, increasing the typical salary by about 14 percent. Judging from some of the coverage in the city's daily newspapers, you may have thought he was advocating a raise for the city dog catcher, or even worse, for politicians. If there are two groups that are chronically underpaid in this world, it's police and school teachers. Since no one is offering our city's teachers a much deserved raise, let's take a minute to look at the police situation.
Police officers perform vital services for our city.
Not only do they apprehend criminals, they also keep order during traffic accidents, patrol neighborhoods for prowlers and peeping toms, break up public brawls and, ideally, make sure no one hurts anyone else. Nobody likes to be the target of a police investigation, be it for a major crime or a speeding ticket, but, on the whole, most of us believe that the police are a necessary and valuable part of insuring our collective safety. If we consider a few free market principles, it becomes obvious that people seek compensation according to their skills. If they feel they aren't making enough money, they tend to look for a better position that will compensate them more. One of the reasons Chavez has suggested the pay raise is that the base pay of Albuquerque police is below the regional average.