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The differences between security specialists and public safety officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a security specialist has an average salary of $49,892, which is higher than the $36,596 average annual salary of a public safety officer.
The top three skills for a security specialist include ladders, security incidents and physical security. The most important skills for a public safety officer are patrol, patients, and public safety.
| Security Specialist | Public Safety Officer | |
| Yearly salary | $49,892 | $36,596 |
| Hourly rate | $23.99 | $17.59 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 96,226 | 122,048 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Average age | 43 | 40 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A security specialist is responsible for maintaining the security of an organization's database, ensuring that it's free from cyber threats and unusual activities. Security specialists' duties include upgrading hardware and software applications, configuring networks to improve optimization, addressing any unauthorized access on the database, troubleshooting system discrepancies, conducting security audits on the system, and improving automated processes. A security specialist must have a strong command of programming languages and system codes, as well as broad experience with technical expertise.
Public relations assistants are professionals who are responsible for creating and distributing promotional materials to help clients increase their public image and awareness of their products and services. These assistants are required to help develop and distribute public relations materials such as brochures, pamphlets, newsletters, and sell sheets. They must handle all the communications of their clients to the public by supervising social media content, press releases, and emails. Public relations assistants must also gather materials to be used in trade shows or client presentations.
Security specialists and public safety officers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Security Specialist | Public Safety Officer | |
| Average salary | $49,892 | $36,596 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $98,000 | Between $29,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | New Britain, CT |
| Highest paying state | New York | North Dakota |
| Best paying company | Okta | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a security specialist and a public safety officer in terms of educational background:
| Security Specialist | Public Safety Officer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 38% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Criminal Justice |
| Most common college | - | California State University - Bakersfield |
Here are the differences between security specialists' and public safety officers' demographics:
| Security Specialist | Public Safety Officer | |
| Average age | 43 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.0% Female, 26.0% | Male, 76.7% Female, 23.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 13.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.2% Asian, 5.8% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6% | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.5% Asian, 3.4% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |