The San Jose Police Department may be trying to hire more officers when taxpayers are already paying more for their cops than any other Bay Area city.
Our media partner, the San Jose Mercury News, uncovered a big difference between what taxpayers pay for each officer and the amount of take-home pay.
The newspaper reviewed payroll data and found that in 2012, taxpayers paid an average of just more than $186,000 per officer. That ranks fifth out of 79 Bay Area cities.
But the average officers' gross salary is just over $111, 000, which ranks in the middle and near the bottom in Silicon Valley.
The difference goes towards benefits.
San Jose has lost about 300 officers to other cities over the last three years.
