Missoula Police Got Paid Pennies a Day to Help Tame the Wild West

I always remind myself that I didn't get into broadcasting to get rich. It is just something that I always have wanted to do since I was a little kid. While some kids dream of being an NFL quarterback or a pilot, I was recording radio shows on my Fischer-Price cassette player. I guess you could say it was fate that I ended up where I am.

Some kids dream of growing up and becoming police officers. While others never thought they would put on the badge, but took advantage of a great job opportunity. Regardless, being a police officer in Missoula is actually a well-paying job... But, that wasn't always the case.

Missoula Police paid a salary of $60 per month?

This past spring 2022,  the Missoula Police Department shared a picture on its Facebook page. The picture features a document that was made using a typewriter (meaning it was created when people still used typewriters.) In the document, it mentions that the first two sworn-in officers for the Missoula Police department were only paid $60 per month to handle the small wild west town. Their names were William Keyes and William Nugent.

Since we first discovered this old document on the Missoula PD Facebook page, the police force in Missoula has grown to 118 officers. Not only has the number of officers grown over the years but thankfully so has the salary.

We recently received an update from Detective Guy Baker of the Missoula PD.

When I was hired in April 1990, MPD grew from 60 to 65 officers and we are currently staffed for 118 officers. Also, the increase from over $60/month in 1883 to over $64,000/year for a starting police officer in 2022 has been an improvement. Our next recruitment process is March 2023 – If you’re interested…

$64k a year is not half bad for a job serving your community. If you are interested in applying, check out the Missoula PD website.