how much would he have gotten if he weren't a former police officer?

A former police officer was sentenced to eight years in a federal prison for charges related to child porn. He was charged with two counts of possession which carries does not carry a mandatory minimum of five years.

The cops found 2,995 pictures and 44 video files on his hard drive. That's a lot of child pornography by any standard. Eight years, though. Does that seem like a light sentence to you?

Only comparatively speaking, of course. Spending any time in prison because of photos and videos is too much. Even with that number of images....and even if you used to be a policeman.

Edited to note that federal charges of possession do not carry a mandatory minimum sentence.