How does a suburban police sergeant resign at 53 years of age, and receive a $6,000 monthly pension? That’s one hell of a retirement plan, if it’s true. When my dad retired from the State Patrol (different state from Peterson, though) after 36 years, he was the most senior officer in the entire Patrol, and second-highest-ranked officer in his division. I don’t believe he was ever paid anywhere near $6k/mo, and I guarantee his retirement isn’t paying anywhere near that amount.
$6000 a month sounds high at first glance but that is $72,000 a year which is hardly a shocking salary for a police officer. Illinois probably has strong police unions and it isn’t hard for officers in other parts of the country to earn somewhere near that after many years of service.
I am not sure how that translates into an actual pension but I can believe it. The story may also be counting other things like benefits which aren’t really cash.
I have handled a lot of retirement paperwork and $6,000 a month is a high amount for a pension. I saw a lot of corporate managers retire after 30 years with considerably less than that. One thing that might come into play here is that some government employees do not pay into Social Security but instead into other local government pension systems. That might result in his equivalent of Social Security also being in that number. Also, as **Shagnasty ** mentioned, they might be placing a cash value on other benefits, especially health insurance, possibly also some life and disability insurance.
That makes sense. My dad is getting the maximum state pension (they also figure in his military service, bringing his total to 40 years of service), plus Social Security now that he’s over 62, and he still works a part-time job in a big-box hardware store to make ends meet.
At the time of his retirement in 2004, he was the regional supervisor for his division in the State Patrol, and first in line, based on seniority and merit, for promotion to be the head of the division for the entire state. He was actually offered the top position more than once, but he turned it down as he wasn’t interested in relocating to the State Capitol. I’d say his relative “rank” was far superior to a city police sergeant, yet to the best of my knowledge he never cracked $70k/year in salary.
That would be low for an LAPD pension; my understanding is that police departments (including the LAPD) want to keep the older, more experienced officers on the job longer. There’s a lot of value in having an experienced force, and so they really sweeten the retirement pot for those willing to put in their 20, and for those who stay past 20, it can get very very nice. My understanding is that it wouldn’t be unusual for an LAPD officer with 25+ years to retire at 6 figures (an officer could make 6 figures with overtime after several years on the job anyway, so that isn’t so out of line).
Don’t cops get paid well for overtime, though? If his pension is a % of last year (or average of last X years) actual wages (as mine is, as a teacher), it’s a signifigant motivation to work as much as humanly possible those last years.
This only applies to Colorado, but I know several police officers who left the Colorado State Patrol for municipal departments so they could earn more money.
That is true but it only accounts for those cops that choose to take on the biggest challenge of their lives a week before they retire. Sure, the massive gun fights and explosions get the top bill on the nightly news but only select cops sign up for that against the advice of their families. There are only so many madmen running around the city at any given time and it only take a single, carefully timed, shot to the heart to eliminate that madman completely. Most retiring cops are successful at this single-minded goal so it doesn’t really fit into the economics we are discussing here.
Hmm. My dad was technically “management”, so overtime didn’t apply for the last 20 years of his career. That could explain part of it. Also, my dad wasn’t a trooper - he was in a different division (“commercial vehicle enforcement”), and he did mention that troopers were paid better than his people were. Officers in his division weren’t even armed until maybe ten years ago.
That may be why my dad briefly considered running for Sheriff some years back.
Under some pension systems that is the case. For instance the Port Authority Police of NY/NJ get their pension based on a pecentage of what they earn for their last few years. Overtime included. For me that is not the case. At 25 years I get 65% of my base salary. If I go 30 years it will be 70%. Our percentage does not go up for any service over 30. New Jersey officers are all under the same pension system.