What will it take for officials to finally do something to curb law enforcement salaries on Long Island, now hovering around $200,000?

I thought the 2008 economic crisis would do it. Then I thought Detroit’s bankruptcy would do it. Then I thought the new Suffolk County executive’s proposal to sell off county buildings and then lease them back would do it. Or the exposure of a Long Island Railroad scandal where 97 percent of retirees received bogus disability payments.

Nope.

One day, the Suffolk executive was crying about a $500 million deficit (radically overblown) and the next he was signing a contract granting $350 million in salary increases over eight years to a police department already among the highest paid in the nation. He rightfully claims that arbitration has traditionally given bad deals to the taxpayer, but two wrongs don’t make a right.

The new contract costs millions by reversing the reforms and civilianization of the past – including moving county police patrols back onto the Long Island Expressway – and giving blanket “education” bonuses whether or not an officer actually received more education. It claims to mitigate costs via a $17 million savings in healthcare that never materialized. It back-loaded most increases until after the reelection cycle, and claims savings from lower starting salaries that were already claimed in a previous arbitration.

The contract for just 340 detectives costs about the same as the contract for 5,500 rank-and-file workers in the Association of Municipal Employees union.

It’s hard to say that the county would have done worse in arbitration, but mandatory arbitration has led to six-week vacations, six-figure pensions, 50-plus sick and personal paid days off per year and termination pay over $200,000.

Don’t blame the average cop, who simply receives what was earned. Don’t even blame the union – while thuggish in its tactics, it’s just doing its job.

Blame the politicians who allow this to continue.

Where are the legislators who say “enough?” Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick, R-Smithtown, has a bill to cap these awards, but not a single state senator or majority Assembly member has signed on. If not a $227,000 law enforcement official, what will it take to initiate change?