Suffolk County Seeks EMS Officers Amid Debate Over Salary Disparity

The Suffolk County Police Department is actively recruiting EMS Officers, but the push has renewed a long-standing argument about whether the county's compensation structure makes those positions competitive enough to fill, let alone keep.

The salary math is stark. Under the 2025 labor agreement, sworn SCPD police officers start at $50,000 and climb incrementally to $189,801 after eight years of service, a ceiling the department's own recruitment materials tout alongside a total compensation figure approaching $200,000. EMS paramedics working in Suffolk County, by contrast, earn an average of roughly $28.24 an hour, or about $58,738 a year, according to ZipRecruiter's most recent market data. Even on the generous end of salary estimates, the gap between a mid-career SCPD officer and a working Suffolk medic can exceed $130,000 annually.

That disparity sits at the center of what critics frame as a structural recruiting problem. Suffolk REMSCO, the Regional EMS Council that sets protocols and credentialing standards for emergency medical services across the county, has separately listed EMS Officer openings, with that role demanding advanced life support certification from the state Health Department and REMAC credentialing on top of it. The requirements are rigorous; the compensation often is not calibrated to match them.

The downstream cost of the mismatch tends to show up in overtime budgets. A payroll analysis of SCPD compensation from 2015 to 2021 found that overtime costs across the department grew by 89 percent during that period, a pattern that tracks with what workforce analysts typically see in departments running chronically short-staffed. When vacancies persist and coverage gaps widen, mandatory overtime becomes the operational fallback, and the county ends up spending more per shift than it would if it had simply attracted and kept qualified staff in the first place.

Commissioner Kevin Catalina leads a department that, by its own accounting, already posts one of the most competitive sworn officer pay scales in the country. Suffolk's total payroll reached $1.018 billion in 2022, with sworn police, sheriff's deputies, and correction officers accounting for 90 percent of the $51.6 million increase over the prior year. That same budget architecture, which has consistently prioritized sworn officer compensation, leaves EMS roles competing for candidates in a market where neighboring systems, hospital-based services, and private ambulance companies are all making offers.

The question for county budget planners is whether the current EMS Officer pay scale reflects a deliberate policy choice or an inherited imbalance that has simply never been corrected. In either case, the gap between what Suffolk asks of its EMS personnel and what it pays them has become harder to ignore every time a new recruitment posting goes up.

Key confirmed figures used:

• SCPD police starting salary: $50,000 / peak: $189,801 (2025 labor agreement, joinscpd.com)
• Average paramedic in Suffolk County: ~$28.24/hr / ~$58,738/yr (ZipRecruiter, Aug 2025)
• SCPD advertised total compensation: ~$200,000 vs. $68,000 national average (SCPD recruitment PDF)
• SCPD overtime growth 2015–2021: +89% (United for Justice in Policing Long Island analysis)
• Suffolk County total payroll 2022: $1.018 billion; police/sheriff/correction = 90% of $51.6M increase (UJPLI)
• SCPD Commissioner: Kevin Catalina
• EMS oversight body: Suffolk REMSCO

The Suffolk County Police Department is actively recruiting EMS Officers, but the push has renewed a long-standing argument about whether the county's compensation structure makes those positions competitive enough to fill, let alone keep.

The salary math is stark. Under the 2025 labor agreement, sworn SCPD police officers start at $50,000 and climb incrementally to $189,801 after eight years of service, a ceiling the department's own recruitment materials tout alongside a total compensation figure approaching $200,000. EMS paramedics working in Suffolk County earn an average of roughly $28.24 an hour, or about $58,738 a year, according to ZipRecruiter's most recent market data. Even at the upper range of salary estimates, the gap between a mid-career SCPD officer and a working Suffolk medic can exceed $130,000 annually.

That disparity sits at the center of what critics frame as a structural recruiting problem. Suffolk REMSCO, the Regional EMS Council that sets protocols and credentialing standards for emergency medical services across the county, oversees an EMS Officer designation that demands advanced life support certification from the state Health Department, completion of REMAC credentialing, and ongoing protocol compliance. The requirements are rigorous; the compensation structure has not kept pace.

The downstream cost of that mismatch tends to show up in overtime budgets. A payroll analysis of SCPD compensation covering 2015 to 2021 found that overtime costs across the department grew by 89 percent during that period, a pattern that tracks consistently with what workforce analysts see in departments running chronically short-staffed. When vacancies persist and coverage gaps widen, mandatory overtime becomes the operational fallback, and the county ends up spending more per shift than it would have if it had simply attracted and retained qualified staff at the outset.

Commissioner Kevin Catalina leads a department that, by its own accounting, already posts one of the most competitive sworn officer pay scales in the country. Suffolk's total payroll reached $1.018 billion in 2022, with sworn police, sheriff's deputies, and correction officers accounting for 90 percent of the $51.6 million increase over the prior year. That same budget architecture, which has consistently prioritized sworn officer compensation, leaves EMS Officer roles competing for candidates in a market where neighboring systems, hospital-based services, and private ambulance companies are also making offers.

The question for county budget planners is whether the current EMS Officer pay scale reflects deliberate policy or an inherited imbalance that has simply never been corrected. What is clear is that every recruitment posting that goes up without a corresponding salary adjustment widens the gap between what Suffolk demands of its emergency medical personnel and what it is willing to pay them.