Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Greetings.

I'm developing a story idea about a detective, who is days away from retiring. I'd like to raise my stakes by adding the possibility that she could get fired before she gets to retire. Hypothetically speaking, if this were to happen, would a police officer/detective lose all retirement benefits if he/she gets fired before she/he retires? Would they retrain some benefits? Or would they have to go find another job in order to receive a full pension?

On another note, do you have a range as to how much a detective could make in pension/benefits in retirement after 25 yrs of service? I have read that police officers (article did not specify rank) could get from $75,000-150,000.

Thanks so much.


PS. I am in the middle of becoming a supporting member after I find a way to donate (waiting for administrator to respond to email).
Your help has been much appreciated and I am looking forward to "paying" you back.

Retirement programs all across the country are different. In mine, you're vested after 5 years of service and you retirement is based on the number of years X a certain percentage of your pay at the time of leaving. If you leave early, fired or whatever you can't start collecting until you are 55 years old. At one time, we had to have 20 years in before we were eligible for any retirement benefits.

Pay varies all over the country too. My retirement is about $65K, which isn't bad. I don't know anyone who retires at $150K or close to that.

The department had better have an excellent reason to fire and officer right prior to retirement. In most cases these situations involve the officer committing a felony. However, in most cases in order for the officer not to receive his retirement benefits he would have had to be convicted prior to retirement. A pension for an officer with 25 years in a large police department could be very high depending on overtime and other benefits payed to him. Some departments go by the last year and some go by the average of the last three years. $50,000-75,000 is not rare.

I will be in the mid 50 K range with half med benefits paid for until 55 , than 75% paid until medicare. We also have COLA built into our pension so I will get " raises " over the years.

If the detective had an attorney , they would probably tell him to retire today , before anything esle occurs.

The department had better have an excellent reason to fire and officer right prior to retirement. In most cases these situations involve the officer committing a felony. However, in most cases in order for the officer not to receive his retirement benefits he would have had to be convicted prior to retirement.

Even if someone was convicted of a felony and sent to prison here, they would get any retirement benefits they are entitled to. Not so with someone on disability. We had that rule change after a cop on disability was convicted of child molestation and sentenced to prison. The media found out he was receiving full disability payments and there was a huge uproar. They fixed it, but no need really. He was shived by another inmate and killed. Being a baby raper and a cop in the joint isn't a good thing.

Speaking as to federal agents (or employees), they can only lose their pension benefits if they are convicted of acts of treason or sedition or similar crimes. Otherwise, a federal agent who gets "jammed up" and sees the writing on the wall can retire, if s/he is eligible. If s/he is not eligible and s/he gets fired, s/he would probably still be eligible for some retirement benefit although it would greatly or somewhat reduced.

Most journeyman federal agents get pensions of $90-100,000/year which includes the defined pension annuity, the TSP (the Gov't 401k), and social security supplement.

Most journeyman federal agents get pensions of $90-100,000/year which includes the defined pension annuity, the TSP (the Gov't 401k), and social security supplement.

Of course that's if (and in some cases, a big "if") they max out their TSP contributions (TSP is like a US Gov't managed 401k program in addition to the FERS pension) and social security is still around when they retire. :)