A District Council committee voted Tuesday to allow D.C. police to retire with a pension after 20 years of service instead of 25, a move aimed at improving morale but one commanders fear could deplete an already understaffed department.
The council’s public safety committee said the measure was necessary to compete with neighboring departments that have poached D.C. officers by giving more attractive retirement benefits.
But D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier was concerned that the law might have the opposite effect, her spokeswoman Traci Hughes said.
“Chief Lanier fully supports rewarding MPD personnel who have served District government for 20 years or more,” Hughes said in a statement. “However, the department must be careful not to suffer a drain of personnel who are critical to the city’s public safety needs.”
The full council is expected to debate and vote on the measure April 1. The idea has been a goal of police union leaders for years. Under the proposal, officers would receive 50 percent of their last year’s salary if retiring after 20 years, and 65 percent at 25. That formula would result in no net costs to the city, officials said.
The Metropolitan Police Department has struggled for years to stem the exodus of police officers, many who left for better benefits at neighboring jurisdictions or law enforcement agencies within the District, union officials said. In the last four years, more than 1,000 have fled the department due to attrition, and at a cost of $75,000 to train new ones, the loss costs the city tens of millions of dollars a year, critics said.
Proponents of the 20-year retirement hope that stronger benefits will attract and retain a stable police force.
“This isa chance for council to say, ‘We respect what you do, and we want you to stay here,’ ” labor committee chairman Kristopher Baumann said.
One criminal justice expert said he has seen no empirical evidence that an earlier retirement helps recruit and retain police officers, but police departments across the country are scrambling to find creative ways to maintain their personnel.
“Generally speaking those sort of future promises are less effective at retaining more junior officers and are more effective at keeping those folks who are closer to retirement,” said Jeremy Wilson of the Center on Quality Policing, a Pennsylvania think tank.
Retirement bill
» Costs: Should have no fiscal impact on the District government, according to bill.
» Officers are obligated to pay additional expenses related to paying for earlier retirement.
» Five Maryland police jurisdictions have 20-year retirements: The city of Baltimore and Howard, Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and Baltimore counties.
