There’s still tons of places that police, firefighters, and EMT’s, like $35k a year starting. Everyone always talks about teachers not making enough, but forgets about the people who show up in 5 minutes in the middle of the night because you called 911 and have no idea what to do and need to get help fast. Firefighters and emts are exploited because of a love of the job and what it means to them. Police are often not of that same track. If you don’t want to just attract the guy who wants to walk around looking for trouble and have a gun, you’ll have to make it worth the money.