Retirement: a new chapter, not the end of the story.

Recently, an officer whom I supervise told me that he had decided to resign from the department. I could hardly hide my surprise; the veteran officer had been an above-average employee throughout his career and was only 5 years away from retirement.

At the same time, though, I understood his restlessness. Some time before, I had left the department to work in the private sector. Five years later, I returned to the department.

A subsequent discussion with the officer revealed that he had few plans for his next career move. Through several long talks, I helped convince him to stay with the department. Today, although the officer is looking forward to retirement and exploring future career options, he continues to serve the department with distinction, and in fact, is one of my best employees.

Nearly all police managers can cite similar experiences with officers in their departments. What compels some officers nearing retirement to decide to leave early? Why do other officers continue to stay long after their commitment to service and dedication to duty have waned?

It has been my experience that three central factors - career challenges, finances, and the psychological effects of withdrawal - play a crucial role in determining an officer's relationship with the department as the prospect of retirement approaches. By understanding these factors, agency administrators will be more informed to help officers look ahead toward their retirement. Administrators also can help officers realize that with a little planning in these areas, retirement from a law enforcement agency is not merely the end of a familiar way of life but the beginning of a new life with new challenges.

RETIREMENT ISSUES

Career Challenges

Maintaining career challenges encourages job satisfaction and prevents frustration. However, efforts to promote job satisfaction in law enforcement may have the unintended consequence of making the prospect of retirement seem unappealing by comparison. As one writer put it, "The more satisfying the career, the more difficult it is to shape a satisfactory retirement."(1)

Of course, this is not to say that law enforcement agencies should not strive continually to provide new challenges to their officers. However, as officers begin to approach retirement age, agencies should encourage them to pursue opportunities outside their departments.

Unfortunately, law enforcement abounds with examples of officers who remain with their departments beyond their effective years. Often, these officers become the focus of jokes among other members of the department. Such scenarios are not only tragic endings to otherwise fine careers, but they also threaten the morale of entire departments.

For these reasons, agencies should counsel officers nearing retirement age to explore challenges outside the confines of the department. This will help them appreciate the many opportunities open to them after retirement and help them see that there is life outside of police work.

Finances

The Bureau of Labor estimates that individuals require an income equal to approximately 70 to 80 percent of their working income to maintain the same standard of living after retirement.(2) Undoubtedly, retirees in any field experience some anxiety about maintaining their standard of living.

A study of retiring Canadian police officers found that their concerns about retiring revolved primarily around income rather than "changed social circumstances or inactivity."(3) However, some officers use money as an excuse to remain with their departments. The truth is that typical retirement packages provide ample income, especially when supplemented by income from a second career or a part-time job.

Consider, for example, the retirement-versus-working income of a typical captain in my department. Under our retirement plan, the captain's eligibility options include 70 percent of salary with 20 years of service or 80 percent of salary with 22 years and 10 months of service. The exact amount of the pension is computed from the employee's 3 highest salaried years.

Suppose that this captain has reached the higher threshold of 22 years, 10 months, making him eligible to retire with 80 percent of his salary. Now he is working on the highest 3 years of pay. The captain's gross monthly salary is $4,324. Current deductions, including a monthly contribution to the retirement fund of $429, lower his take-home pay to $2,922 per month. If he retired at the conclusion of 2 years at captain's pay, he would receive $3,023 per month. Subtracting $512 in monthly deductions leaves a take-home pay of $2,511 per month. By remaining 1 more year with the department, he will increase his take-home pay by $300 per month.

However, if the captain remains past this point, he actually will be working for diminishing returns. An additional year paid into the retirement fund will increase his net pay by only $40 per month. This equates to less than minimum wage at a part-time job. An experienced police professional is worth far more than that in the open job market. Analysis of this type should demonstrate to officers that remaining with the department past their retirement eligibility often is a poor financial decision.

Psychology

Many officers who remain past retirement age are not as discouraged by the financial aspects of retirement as by the psychological aspects. As officers make the transition to retirement, they find themselves leaving a job in which they personified authority and responsibility; they were empowered to solve many of the community's problems and authorized by law to take a person's life if necessary.

The day of retirement means losing many years of identity and fraternity, as well as the right to hold the symbols of authority, including uniform, badge, and weapon. In one of life's little ironies, the officer is about to join the ranks of a population often derided by police officers - civilians.

A key psychological factor contributing to many officers' decisions to stay on the job past their retirement eligibility revolves around unfulfilled needs described by Maslow's Theory of Self Actualization. As some officers look back on their careers, they cannot see any signs of lasting impact on the department and the community that they served for so long. The significant contributions of a career in public service seem washed away by the circular procedure of placing the same individuals in prison on multiple occasions for short periods of time.

Although this condition is not easily overcome, neither the affected officers nor their departments are served well by allowing officers to remain on the job while they attempt to resolve this need. Agencies should address the perils of self-actualization through counseling before officers reach retirement age.

Retiring officers face additional psychological pressures related to the loss of structure that their police careers gave their daily lives. Some officers leave their departments only to spend long days or months looking for another job. A few seclude themselves in their homes and turn to alcohol to fill the void left in their lives by their retirement. Such worst-case scenarios are not only tragic but avoidable.

Retiring officers often sell themselves and their abilities short. Supervisors hear such comments as, "What could I do? All I have ever been is a cop." Officers retiring in their late 40s or 50s have many quality years left. They have made split-second decisions on a daily basis throughout their careers. They have interacted with people from all walks of life and in almost every conceivable situation. They calmly have resolved highly charged and emotional confrontations, responded to natural disasters, and tended to people with serious injuries. Administrators should ensure that retiring officers appreciate how unique and marketable these skills are.

HELPING OFFICERS PREPARE FOR RETIREMENT

Clearly, pressures relating to retirement issues can affect the psychological well-being of employees. In fact, retirement ranks as the ninth leading cause of stress in the United States.(4) However, despite the many serious retirement issues, a 1988 survey revealed that fewer than 15 percent of law enforcement agencies in the country provided retirement counseling for their employees.(5)

Police agencies' strengths generally lie in mobilizing resources and developing contingency and operational plans for various situations. But, sadly, they often fall short at developing their most important resources - their own employees. However, agencies can take a number of fairly simple steps to alleviate their employees' concerns and assist them in preparing for an active and satisfying retirement.

Career Planning and Counseling

Career planning and counseling should begin in the academy and play an important role in all evaluations throughout an officer's career. Supervisors should focus heavily on career counseling with officers during their last 5 years of employment. Counseling sessions should stress that an officer is engaged in a career in public safety rather than a job with a specific police organization. Likewise, command staffs should design training paths to guide officers toward a lifetime career. Officers should be shown the utility of their chosen specialty, not only in their current capacity but also in terms of enhancing their marketability after retirement from the agency.

Academy counseling sessions should include a form that guides officers in developing a written career path. The form should help the officers identify specialties that they would like to pursue. As the officers meet career challenges, supervisors should revise and update these forms during subsequent performance reviews.

As officers approach retirement, career planning counselors should encourage those who have not decided upon their next career moves to consider returning to school. Because the retiring officers probably have not attended school on a regular basis for many years, counselors should assist them by locating proper funding and perhaps by making the initial contacts with the learning institution. Everyone from displaced factory workers to former prison inmates takes advantage of the self-enhancement and increased marketability that continuing education provides. Retiring police officers should be no exception.

Financial Planning 

Career counseling also should include an explanation of how lifestyle choices affect long-term comfort and opportunities. Young officers untrained in financial matters may not grasp the ramifications of their actions. A seemingly simple decision, such as establishing a personal savings program, could have important long-term consequences.

For example, an officer who invests $100 a month in a savings account at an interest rate of 3.9 percent would have $36,431 at the end of 20 years. If this officer chose to deposit the same amount of money over the same period of time but transferred the balance every 12 months to a certificate of deposit yielding 5.5 percent, the officer would have $45,624 at the end of 20 years.(6)

To help clarify the advantages and drawbacks of alternative savings programs, agencies could arrange to have financial planners discuss investment opportunities with officers. In fact, most investment services would offer to deliver such presentations free of charge. Likewise, agencies could arrange to have outside experts discuss how health and leisure choices also can affect long-term opportunities for officers.

When officers are 5 years from retirement, administrators should hold a special counseling session for them and their spouses. The administrators should explain projected monthly income and other retirement benefits and services. Administrators also should illustrate to the officers and their spouses that the characteristics required of a career law enforcement official are equally in demand and marketable outside the department. The rewards and disadvantages of the job should be reviewed and compared to what the world outside the department can offer.

Effective counseling will help officers face retirement with eager interest in the challenges that lay before them. Counseling also will help alleviate officers' concerns about their families' ability to cope with the financial aspects of retirement.

Psychological Support

The psychological aspects of retirement may affect officers in a wide range of ways. Agencies can help relieve some of the psychological pressures that officers nearing retirement face simply by fostering a supportive environment.

Administrators should support establishment of a retired officers association (ROA) within the umbrella of the agency's officers association. Once established, the ROA could help show officers the benefits of retirement, assist with networking for social and employment needs, and help officers fill their self-actualization needs by showing them some of the positive changes that have taken place in the community over time as a result of the department's efforts. Just as important, the ROA can lead the retired officers in a direction that ensures their contributions to the community do not come to an end.

Employment Assistance

The ROA or counselors made available by the department also should refer officers to federal, state, local, and private agencies or organizations that offer various forms of assistance to retirees. Organizations such as the American Association of Retired Persons can provide valuable information to retirees and may be able to assist them with job placement at no charge.

Police agencies can train retiring officers in skills they will need for the job search, such as preparing resumes, writing letters to prospective employers, and developing effective job interviewing techniques. In addition, the ROA could compile lists of companies looking for employees with specific skills and recommend retiring officers to firms with positions to fill.

Agencies also should consider rehiring a limited number of retired officers as civilian employees. By doing so, departments retain a valuable resource - employees with years of experience and in-depth training. At the same time, retired officers can enter a new phase of their careers within a familiar organizational structure.

Like all civilian employees, retired officers can perform a host of clerical functions. However, agencies also can use retired officers in various specialty operations, including community policing programs, special problem assignments, and internal affairs investigations. After all, who knows more about police work than a career service officer? This cost-effective placement approach also frees active duty officers for other assignments and offers a valuable training resource to officers assigned to work with the retirees.

Honoring Retirees

Finally, agencies should help retiring officers celebrate this important life transition. Acknowledging the officers' contributions and achievements before fellow officers, family, and friends can address many psychological needs and resolve some potential problems before they arise.

Commanders should ensure that an officer's gun and badge - important symbols of a long association with the department - are given as gifts to the retiree. It is only right that agencies take time to show their appreciation for the service rendered by retiring officers. It also is in the best interest of agencies that retiring officers leave happy, not unfulfilled to go home to torment their families and speak ill of their departments.

CONCLUSION

Retirement from a law enforcement agency can be a bitter-sweet proposition. Although logic dictates that officers should look forward to enjoying the benefits of a much less stressful lifestyle, experience shows that many retiring officers look back on their careers and feel that their lives after retirement will be considerably less fulfilling. Agencies should take steps to make the transition to retirement as smooth and painless as possible.

After all, retirement is a natural phase of the career cycle that offers benefits both to departments and officers. Departments gain opportunities to promote, which helps morale. Retirement of command officers also allows departments to place individuals with new ideas into the management force.

Retired officers can explore new opportunities to use their experience and training. They are free to find new roles in different organizations, interact with those outside the law enforcement profession, and perhaps earn more money.

By developing a comprehensive program to prepare officers for the career, financial, and psychological challenges of retirement, agencies can help take some of the mystery out of what lies beyond. Retirement does not end the story; it merely begins a new chapter.

Endnotes

1 Leonard Harrison, "The More Satisfying the Career, the More Difficult It Is to Shape a Satisfactory Retirement," Police Chief, October 1981.

2 John G. Stratton, "Letting Go: Retirement," Police Passages, (Manhattan Beach, CA: Glennon Publishing, 1984), 277-285.

3 Dennis Forcese and Joseph Cooper, "Police Retirement: Career Succession or Obsolescence?" Canadian Police Journal, 1985.

4 James T. Chandler, Ph.D., "The Transition to Retirement," Law Enforcement Technology, March 1991.

5 R.P. Delprino and C. Bahn, "National Survey of the Extent and Nature of Psychological Services in Police Departments," Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, August 1988.

6 Ms. Colette Tyler, Customer Service Representative, Sunwest Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico, interview by author, November 1995.

BILL REHM

Lieutenant Rehm serves with the Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Sheriff's Department.