Jobs after you retire?

[sfb92]

What jobs are you officers interested in after retiring from le, or what jobs do you do now that you are retired?

I ask the question because my dad is getting ready to retire and has applied for some criminal justice positions at some local community colleges and has also applied to several departments down south for the chiefs job. (I don't think departments in NJ can hire chiefs from the outside.)

I hope he gets and takes a chief job down south because I'd love to move there and as stupid as this sounds I've never seen my dad be anything besides a cop, and can't picture him in any other job.

A lot of my dad's retired friends got head security positions at various places, some became teachers, a couple actually got jobs at a corporation, and some just live off of their pensions.

I guess this question is more for the officers who are retired or reaching the end of their careers than for the young officers, but I'd be interested to hear what everyone has to say.

Just interested to hear what the officers on here plan on doing in retirement.

[retdetsgt]

I'm doing exactly what I planned to do, nuthin'!

I did think I wanted to teach at the community college level, but teach sociology, nothing to do with criminal justice per se. After getting the education required though I found that I could make about as much money working at a convenience store. Only full time faculty make decent pay and I have no desire to do anything full time.

If I wanted to continue to work, I'd have stayed where I was. There I had over 4 weeks vacation, 2K hours of sick time and beau coup seniority. I can't imagine working somewhere with none of that and reporting to some 30 year old.:rolleyes:

Several of my peers did retire and become chiefs of police at small depts and none lasted more than a few weeks. Small town politics are murder for anyone who's an outsider. The ones that were successful in that worked for larger depts.

Some friends of mine are doing things like working security etc., but not because they want to. It's because some ex wife (wives) are getting a chunk of their pension.

[Creeker]

It all depends on how you retire.

I was forced out medically, a cervical neck issue. I was given a service credit as if I'd worked till 55, which gave me 34 years, as opposed to 23 years actual. as a result, I now draw roughly 71% of what I earned annually while working.

The downside is that I cannot take a job at which I earn any more than the other 29%... or in my case about $12.5k annually, or I totally lose the other 71%.

After a year or more of total boredom while the wife figured I should be cleaning out the garage :rolleyes: I decided to do some Independant Contractor work with a former co-worker who was doing some PI & Process Serving work.

I spent 2 years doing a little Process Serving and a little more Personal Injury surveillance work, but near the end of the 2 years the work became a loss leader with the household books as the work went down and the vehicle/fuel costs went up, the co-worker hired on younger cheaper labor and stopped tossing me any of the bigger money work when he rented an Office and hired his wife... that's how that goes... :rolleyes:

Now I'm back to being bored out of my mind, making the wife's supper and lunches to take to work, watching late night cable tv, raising tomatoes, taking pot-shots at insolent squirrels, posting on a Cop Forum and occasionally scanning the want-ads for someone who wants to hire a driver or Consultant as a sub-contractor.

There's no way I'm going to flip burgers, deliver pizza, or work at a convenience store... working for a know-nothing 25 year old isn't my idea of interesting, life affirming or socially valued ....

If I wait until I'm 55, however, I could go get that job as a CEO and still keep my 71%.... :D

[sfb92]

It all depends on how you retire.

I was forced out medically, a cervical neck issue. I was given a service credit as if I'd worked till 55, which gave me 34 years, as opposed to 23 years actual. as a result, I now draw roughly 71% of what I earned annually while working.

I'm pretty sure that in the pension system my dad is in if you retire on a medical retirement you get 75% tax free. If you do the regular 25 years you get 65% and I believe 1% for every year you stay on up until your 30th year.

I think NJ is a good state to retire from because due to the cost of living the salaries can be pretty high, you can retire and have your pension still be 6 figures.

How come they have laws regarding what your income can be? I find it pretty ridiculous that you can't get a good paying job, just because you went out on a medical retirement.

When you say they gave you credit as if you worked until you were 55, why do you have to be 55? My aunt works for a PD in NC as a civilian and she's mentioned that cops have to be 55 to retire as well. Here in NJ you can retire when you get your 25 years or whatever number of years is required. For instance if my dad retired right now he'd only be 46.

Retdetsgt my Dad's mentioned he'd only take a job with a town that has 50 or more guys. I think he also wanted to do just part time teaching maybe some part time pi work, but with one kid in college and two more on the way I doubt he'd wind up doing just part time stuff.

[Creeker]

...How come they have laws regarding what your income can be? I find it pretty ridiculous that you can't get a good paying job, just because you went out on a medical retirement. .

I believe it is to keep people from abusing the system. A Cop could claim PTSD from the sound of a car backfiring and with enough supporting Psych evaluation, collect retirement.

Aside from that excuse, I think its pretty Socialistic, myself...

...
When you say they gave you credit as if you worked until you were 55, why do you have to be 55? My aunt works for a PD in NC as a civilian and she's mentioned that cops have to be 55 to retire as well. Here in NJ you can retire when you get your 25 years or whatever number of years is required. For instance if my dad retired right now he'd only be 46..

I am 46 now.

In SC, a Cop has the option of working for 25 years or 'till 55. The more years over 25 you have in, the more of a % you collect. At 25 years a Cop typically gets about 56% of his usual Annual Gross.

At 55, I will be free of the income limitation.

[retdetsgt]

How come they have laws regarding what your income can be? I find it pretty ridiculous that you can't get a good paying job, just because you went out on a medical retirement.

I think the idea of medical retirement is giving you money because you can't work. It's not like a full retirement that you earned by putting in lots of years. My dept has more or less the same rules, for every two dollars you earn working, they deduct one dollar from your medical pension down to a minimum of 25%. You never get less than that. The public isn't choked up about putting out big bucks to someone so they can leave early and earn big money somewhere else.

A lot might have to do with your Dad's rank when he retires. In Oregon, if you already had an administrator's (Lt and up) certification, it's a lot easier to get a command position at another dept. The ICPA (International Chiefs of Police) has listings of openings for chiefs and other command positions.

One retired detective I know is Phil Knight's head of security for NIKE. Another retired patrol officer handles all his none-NIKE related real estate. Both kinda fell into those jobs, not something you find in the want ads. I was offered a job guarding people transporting diamonds. I declined, I figured if someone knew who was carrying diamonds, they would figure out who I was long before I knew who they were. Risking my life for someone else's life is one thing, risking it for someone else's property is a whole new ball game! But there are usually lots of jobs like that if someone is so inclined.

[Taxx]

MY DREAM JOB.....

Would be to work for the State/Federal Government as a social program benefit investigator. My salary would be based on the precentage of dollars I save the State who pay dirtbags for not working, but who are completely able and drive Denali's.

[mcsap]

Getting into the safety side of the trucking industry as I know a few things about the State / Federal regs and laws in that biz.

[Old Trooper]

When I retired, I took a corporate security director position in NYC for almost 10 yrs..now, in CA. I am a probation officer, because i enjoy it! I'll probably work another year or two, not sure yet, but NY state has been sending me retirement checks for nearly 20 years, so I really screwed up their system! BWAHAHAHAHAA!