CLARKSTOWN, N.Y.  The police chief here likes to say that he can count the number of homicides in 2008 on one fist, because there were none.

According to one national ranking, Clarkstown, in Rockland County, is consistently among the safest towns in America with at least 75,000 people, based on its crime statistics. In 2007, it was the second safest, and in 2008, it was the sixth.

But Clarkstown is also at the top of another category that Chief Peter T. Noonan is less thrilled to discuss: police pay. In 2008, Chief Noonan, 56, made $332,529.88. He was not even the highest paid: One of his two captains earned $335,676, while working two days a week because of a disability and spending three days a week undergoing physical therapy. The other captain earned $311,369.

The 50 highest-earning Clarkstown employees were all members of the 173-member Police Department, with those 50 earning roughly $10 million, or about $200,000 each on average.