The staggering disability rates among Montgomery County police officers stretch back more than two decades, and although county leaders are decrying a “broken” system now, policy changes may not begin until January.
In 10 of the past 23 years, more Montgomery officers left the force on work-related disability claims than received normal retirement, according to data provided by the county’s police union.
Last month, a task force commissioned by Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett found that 54 percent of police who retired in the past eight years receive extra pay for work-related disabilities, compared with 3 percent of similar workers in Fairfax County. This week, Inspector General Tom Dagley released a report that said 62 percent of police who retired in the past three years received work-related disability payments.
Former acting Police Chief Thomas Evans e-mailed county leaders saying he knows former officers who retired on disability to take jobs as rodeo bull wrestlers and roofers.
Police union head Walter Bader accused elected officials of “trying to get their names in the papers” Thursday, after a panel of Montgomery County Council members reviewed the report released from Dagley.
“I think nothing has changed in 25 years, really,” Bader said. “Disabilities are disabilities. This is a public show, and there is no news attached to it.”
Patrick Lacefield, Leggett’s spokesman, took issue with Bader’s claim:
“The fact we are coming to it now and people didn’t before — I don’t think that means there is no problem.”
Bader said he worried that the outrage over disability rates may prompt new contract negotiations when existing employment agreements have long allowed officials to take action against suspicious disability claims.
County labor policy allows officials to require retirees age 55 or younger who receive disability payments to submit to an annual physical for the first five years of retirement to ensure the injury persists. The county has not enforced the policy in more than a decade.
Office of Human Resources Director Joe Adler said he hoped to use this option to review an estimated 200 to 300 cases, but because of policy concerns and staffing issues, he will not begin until January.
