Posted on 11/07/2013 2:36:09 PM PST by bkopto
I am a retired Detroit Police Officer and this is my story. I hope this will not happen to you.
I joined the Detroit Police Department in 1986. At that time the city had an agreement with the federal government that made Detroit Police officers ineligible for social security and Medicare. We were led to believe that this was to our benefit. We were told that we would be taken care of upon retirement with a pension and health care.
Today, this is no longer true. Because of the bankruptcy filing by the city of Detroit, the Emergency Manager has stripped me and my fellow officers of our health-care coverage and is trying to void our pension income.
I spent more than 23 years with the Detroit Police Department as a patrol officer. I patrolled the streets of Detroit. I answered calls for service. I did not have an administrative job, nor was I an executive. I have seen some really horrific scenes and fought against the worst violent acts that most people cannot even imagine.
I have uncovered babies from shallow graves, responded to domestic-violence incidents, armed robberries, and murder scenes. I have discovered heads blown off, double ax murders, and mummified bodies in abandoned buildings.
I have saved people from being killed. I have found lost children and returned missing relatives to safety when they wandered, were carjacked, or were taken away by force. And I have come into your home or the home of someone you know when help, safety, and security were needed to help the citizens of Detroit.
I have lost more friends in the line of duty than anyone should.
I have been shot at more times than you can count; and
I have been run over.
I loved my job.
In 1996, I was on my way back to the First Precinct after patrolling the streets. I proceeded through a green light near the precinct and was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light. I do not remember much about the accident because I was in a coma for six days. I had a very serious head injury. I was off work for nearly one year, then on restricted duty for two years.
I had to learn to eat and swallow again.
My head injury caused memory issues, which I have to this day.
I did not take a duty or medical retirement at the advice of my union. They told me not to worry---the retirement insurance coverage would take care of me. But that’s not true anymore.
I do not think I am special, nor do I think I am unique. I am like every other patrol officer in any other city. I worked hard. I earned everything I have. I do not want anyone to “give” me anything.
I do want what I earned --- my health-care coverage and pension.
Thank you for listening. I hope you do not experience the same treatment.
Hey, pal, spell “Money.”
“M O N E Y”
Nope, you forgot the “F”
You were used by your Union Reps so they could get RICH!
How does that work, exactly?
My previous neighbor was a retired NY cop. He was about 44 years old. He started a second "career" for FedEx. The dude is going to be living off NYers for the next 30 or 40 years.
My other previous neighbor just retired from the city here in Arizona. She's 46. Her husband cut his hours down to part time because she is now making more money retired than she was working. Again, she'll be collecting for the next however meany decades.
My co-worker, from Long Island, her dad retired at 40 from some NYC union, then started another union job for the sewer workers. Did that--retired from both collecting both pensions for FOREVER.
And we laugh at Greece?
He made a big mistake: He believed the leftist government, the leftist union.
He didn’t pay SS, but didn’t put money aside for himself.
I wonder: Is he mad at the leftists who lied to him yet?
And I ‘retired’ at age 40-something with a lavish pension and I WANT MINE!
Local and State government employees are exempt from Social Security and Medicare (Constitutional issue), but they may elect to participate as those government may determine. At one time, the military was also exempt, but that ended in 1957.
As local and perhaps even state governments begin to collapse, they will try to get the federal government to bail them out and will no doubt invent some story that the mean federal government shut them out of Social Security and so they deserve to be rescued. Politicians, of course, will sign up for this fiction.
He should get what us fools get on SS…1400 a month big deal..
Same deal in Kleptofornia. State workers pay into a deferred comp system run by the state. As such, they don’t pay social security, and are not eligible for the same. I have one brother, possibly two on that system. One works for BART, the other the state.
Lookslike there are a few out there who are not supporting this officer. Too bad for them!
If we private citizens want short and long term disability insurance we have to pay for it and it is expensive. I recommend everyone having both because what will you do in his situation if disabled.
That said, these public servants usually are underpaid so adding in disability insurance would be reasonable. That, and I agree most government pensions are too generous.
It’s the same with local employees here in CA (and, I believe, state employees too): they AREN’T TAXED FOR Social Security and Medicare, and thus aren’t eligible for them ... because they have their own retirement plans instead.
I worked for a CA city briefly and strongly preferred this approach. Social Security and Medicare are going bankrupt. Far better to pay into a smaller, privately INVESTED fund for retirement payouts and medical care. (Still less preferable than a free market, but hey.)
He should have looked both ways before proceeding through the green light.
“How does that work, exactly?”
I had a retired cop here in NJ describe it to me; as I recall, he thought that because his taxpayer-funded pension was so far above what most people would collect under Social Security, and because he could retire so young, it was almost viewed as “double dipping” if he could also collect SS. He didn’t mention the healthcare part.
No he won't.
You can't fight math.
Like others here have suggested... I’d like to see his voting record.
I am sorry that politicians made promises that they never intended to fulfill.
I am sorry that the Government promised to loot all of the earnings and possessions of the private citizens to fund the pensions and benefits for Government workers.
I am sorry that Government workers did not object to implementation of benefit programs that would clearly destroy the economy and require virtual theft and impoverishment of private citizens.
I am sorry that we routinely elect liars and thieves.
I am sorry that you did not set aside some of your earnings (not shrunk due to FICA deductions) to fund your own pension (e.g., 401k).
A contract is a contract and should be honored. I pity those that lost their pensions through govt corruption. But it’s not the taxpayers’ problem.
I trust this guy was a good cop, and I regret his injuries. I hope he finds a good path.
While on the subject of injuries, let’s not forget about the troops the come home injured, and especially those that didn’t make it home alive.
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