Police Officer, by grade
An officer moves up a grade on each anniversary of academy graduation. Top pay lands three
years after graduation, which with a six month academy is the "three years and six months"
the department quotes.
GradeHourlyAnnualOvertime
Recruit$36.18$75,257$54.27
4th Grade$38.96$81,046$58.44
3rd Grade$41.75$86,835$62.62
2nd Grade$44.53$92,624$66.80
1st Grade (top pay)$55.66$115,780$83.49
Other ranks
Ranks above Police Officer do not have promotional grade steps. They start at the five year
step and drift upward with longevity, so the range below runs from entry to thirty years.
RankEntry30 yearAnnual range
Technician$59.56$63.02$123,885 to $131,082
Detective / Corporal$61.23$64.69$127,358 to $134,555
Sergeant$66.80$70.26$138,944 to $146,141
Lieutenant$76.26$79.72$158,621 to $165,818
Captain$86.00$89.46$178,880 to $186,077
How overtime is figured. Department paid overtime is your base rate times 1.5.
Double time is times 2.0. Some assignments instead pay the 25 year Detective rate, which is
the Detective and Corporal step 25 figure of $64.11 an hour, or $96.16 at time and a half.
About these numbers. Figures come from the Denver Police Department salary schedule
and are provided as a reference for officers. Police Officer annual figures are the contract
salaries. For the ranks above, the annual range is approximate, calculated as the hourly rate
times 2,080 hours. This is an independent reference, not an official department publication.
Confirm your own rate against your paystub or the current collective bargaining agreement.
Stop doing this math by hand
Centurion Blue applies the right contract rate to every job automatically, by the date you
worked it, including grade steps and promotions. Log an off duty job or department overtime
in about thirty seconds and it figures the pay, the mileage and the taxes for you.
Open the app, free to start
See also: 2026 Denver Police exception (overtime) pay dates
and what Centurion Blue does for Denver officers.