Nobody here has argued that giving cops more take home pay is the only means necessary or required to make them better. I think that they need higher hiring and training/education standards. There are plenty of professions regulated via licensing boards to maintain a level of competence and accountability for the public good. One of my own fields, surveying, requires 3 recommendations from senior surveyors, a 4 year degree, and a notoriously difficult exam for the junior license. For the senior license, you need at least 2 years of experience (after getting the junior license, not before) broken down very precisely between several different aspects of the job (which means in practice a lot of people need more than 2 years), you need to submit a full urban and a full rural survey plat (a map you draft of the property), and you need to pass another exam. Both levels of licenses require several hours of continuing education credits a year. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, they all have a hand in public safety and have similar standards to uphold.
Cops get a license to kill ("in self-defense") after 6 weeks and a few months shadowing a senior patrol officer.
That shit's out of wack.
Naturally, increased compensation will follow increased standards, because that's what would be needed to attract people to go through all the hassle. They'll go together.