This first question is for current law enforcement officers on the Forum who are within five years of retirement age.

Question:
Are you looking forward to retiring from law enforcement?

Choices:
No, I love it and still want to work as long as I can.
No, it still okay and I'll go another five years or so.
Yes, it starting to wear on me a bit.
Yes, it's getting really old and I need to get out.
I hate my job so much I need to leave NOW.

 

Only 16.5 to go....

I didn't qualify for your poll, but I knew 5 years before I was due, that I needed to retire. It starts to really wear you down.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
Only 16.5 to go....

I feel you. I've got 14.5 to go... Almost halfway.

I'll hit 14 years in July, and need 28 to retire. (Or you can punch out at 25, with a greatly reduced pension.)

None of the answers really hit where I am. My minimum retirement date was last October. I'm now that dude that is one bad day of work away from telling them to shove it.

But.

I am really good at what I do, and I enjoy what I do. The bosses leave me alone, I do my thing. If I want to screw off for a day, I screw off. My case load is heavy, and I mainly deal with the worst of the worst. At 50, I still do some undercover work, mainly buy bust stuff. The thing is in my 20s I was never good at UC stuff, now I'm comfortable. My day to day doldrums are supplemented by being on the range quite a bit teaching. I'm starting to teach at the Academy quite a bit more. I have a lot of freedom. There's much to be said for that if you like what you do.

The flip side is I don't want to be that guy that retires and dies the next day. I've made good investments, the retirement is pretty good, and I have a successful side business. I ^think^ I'm wired a little different from those guys and I take better care of myself now than those guys. At least I'd like to hope.

Right now, it's a buyers market for those who want to retire, and then go back into law enforcement, even to the same agency. There are few good candidates out there, and there are more jobs available than good coppers. But, again, just because I could work till I'm 100 doesn't mean its a good idea. And I don't want to go somewhere else and push a black and white around the hood on midnights with Tuesday and Wednesday off.

So, I stay.

Go figure.

^ A good place to be, my friend. As for me, I have 12 years until I'm eligible to retire and 19 years before I'm forced out.

I am way beyond eligible and I have no inclination to leave, given that, I am in a job nobody would want to leave. I have a great admin, I get to pick who is in my area and they are only the most motivated people, I still get to teach or ride whenever I want and my admin load can usually get cranked out in about 2 1/2 days each week, which leaves me time to go out and be the police (as an example, I worked street racers one night last week in a marked shop and left my rank insignia at home).

Given that, I have vowed I would leave as soon as I either start passing off arrestees to youngsters because I dont want to do the work, or if i ever youtube in the office.

quote:

Originally posted by car541:
I have vowed I would leave as soon as I either start passing off arrestees to youngsters

But I thought that was considered an important milestone in certain law enforcement circles, when you're facing down a hulked out aggressive scrotebag and you realize you are experienced enough (and old and broken enough) to pat the gung-ho young guys on the back and say "Go get 'em, kids!"

Almost 58 years old with 2 years and 2 months left......Yes, I just installed a Retirement Countdown app on my cell phone. I am ready to get out. I am in Patrol so during the cold wet (sleet, freezing rain, snow with wind chill) night shift where I was out of the car almost all night, all my aches and pains from previous injuries (most sustained while on the job) hit me hard. How hard? I went home, took a HOT shower and spent 30 minutes researching hot tubs.

I can go in 1 1/2 years but will stay 2. I can’t wait to move on to another career. Another plus is actually seeing my family more and sleeping at night.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:
Only 16.5 to go....

I feel you. I've got 14.5 to go... Almost halfway.

I'll hit 14 years in July, and need 28 to retire. (Or you can punch out at 25, with a greatly reduced pension.)

Googly Moogly.
I just hit 14 years, can go in 6, will likely do 10 and bring home what I bring home now, I’ll be 46. I could also buy 4 years and make that 2 and 6 but being on the younger end does not make the cost worth while.
I enjoy my job, I don’t love it like I did when I first started but most days I am happy to be heading into work. But I don’t see myself going over 25 years. I’ve gotten to do some pretty cool stuff and have some solid accomplishments that I have likely reached my pinnacle.
Retire at 46 and plan to start something (part time) new sounds pretty good to me.

I am like Jones I am very good at what I do and the bosses leave me alone. However I don’t carry a caseload, don’t miss carrying a caseload what so ever, and I won’t carry a case load again.
I did 6 years in plain clothes doing some pretty cool stuff carrying a case load but working the street is what I was meant for and where I’ll finish out.

I picked the closest response close to "I love my actual work, I like the people I work with, I can tolerate the administrative BS that comes with it... and I'm still retiring the month I'm eligible."

I will still have one foot in the training world, and will find something productive to fill the other 30-odd weeks of the year. It just won't be this. I want to leave while I'm having a good time, and am still young enough to enjoy more days than not.

I can go in 30 months.

I have 18 years so far. I can go when I get my twenty but I’ll only be 43. I plan to stay until I’m 50 and can draw my pension without any penalties. But, if something comes up I would go. It’s just hard to think of leaving as I have a whole lot of time off with vacation, personal days, etc.

Don’t qualify for the question, but my dept had an early retirement system such that when you hit 50 you could go out and get a prorated retirement.

That was my goal when I was 45, then I had a stroke and left in the middle of 47...with a prorated pension- just smaller than the one I woulda have gotten at age 50

I knew I was ready to go, the PC politics and the insanity of the bosses moving from enforcing the law to becoming a social justice warrior was driving me nuts. In the last decade they have been hiring social workers and not cops...it’s completely changed the dept. and policing in the town I worked.

I’ve got around 14 years left (with my EMS time that will get me to 30 years/full benefits).

I expect I’ll be ready to go. It’s extremely rare for people to stay longer at my agency. Unheard of, even.

Damned problem is I will have no medical plan when I retire at roughly 52.

I've been retired for 13 years.

Our department retirement wasn't based on years of service, but on age. If you stayed until you were 50, you got 3% for each year of service (based on your highest year)But it didn't take effect until I was 51. I know guys who went out at 115% of salary...because they started early

I stayed until I was 53 to maximized my base that they calculated the retirement was calculated on...you have to play with SL, VAC, HiL, CTO and OT. My base pay was about $85k, but my retirement was based on something around $150k. It's just a game you need to be aware of before you retire

Planning on leaving May of '21, that will give me 30 solid. Next summer, our retirement system will be undergoing changes to make it more solvent. Word is the current multiplier (3.2) will likely change to 2.7 or thereabouts, years of service from 23 to 25, and an increase in the amount paid by officers and the city. I was planning to leave before the belt tightening anyway; 30 is enough.

Yep, I have my time in and I am about ready to do anything else. If I take a year off I can return and collect my retirement and get topped out again. Just not sure I want back in... Its a tough decision leaving at 50 with out health insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:
My base pay was about $85k, but my retirement was based on something around $150k. It's just a game you need to be aware of before you retire

Dang. Wish ours was like that.

I'm not quite halfway to retirement, so I don't have the exact calculations memorized, but off the top of my head ours is something like:

We can retire at 28 years of service with a pension of around 80% of the average of our top 5 annual earnings.

You can stay on for up to a few additional years (IIRC it's something like 3 or 5 more, for 31 to 33 years total) and get a small bump per additional year.

Or you have the option to punch out 3 years early at 25 years, but you only get something like 50% of your average top earning. (It's such a bad deal that basically nobody does it, unless they're just so completely burnt out that they can't make it the additional 3 years, and have some other plan for retirement income anyway.)


So on the plus side, I started young and can be retired by 50 (or early 50s if I want the extra bumps). On the downside, it'll take working 28 or more years to get there, which is kinda daunting. Plus I'd have to find some sort of healthcare coverage for the 15ish years until I'm eligible for Medicare, either by getting another full time job or paying out the wazoo for private purchase healthcare on the Obamacare market.

Or, if I find something outside of LE and want to jump ship before retirement, I'm vested since I have over 10 years on, so I can draw a small partial pension starting at age 65ish, plus whatever I'd have from my newer career.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

I’m tired. It’s not what happens outside the department that wears at me. As soon as the book is finished and published, I don’t think I’ll have a choice but to move on.