Page 11 - February 2021

I’ve been saying it for a long time: The days of being “the real police” are over. Actually, I’ll bet most of you remember veteran officers saying the same thing, dating back decades. You really have to weigh the positives and negatives before going above and beyond what is required.
Sadly, I report that an officer has recently been charged with a felony as a result of doing police work. Then came House Bill 3653.
As you may already know, under this bill, one could essentially show up to work one day and be unem- ployed the next. Or worse, one can be charged with a felony. Many don’t know this, but if you are convicted of a felony re- lated to your duty, then your pension would be revoked.
One question I’ve been asked a number of times since this bill was passed is, “Should I retire now?” At first, I was con- fused why members who I barely know would ask me such a serious question — especially veteran officers with 20-plus
years on. I came to find that one thing these members had in common was they all have thousands of hours accumulated on the books.
Many also don’t know that when you get terminated, the City does not compensate you for the accumulated hours on the books. Totally unfair, especially because you earned the hours, and you allowed the City to forgo compensating you up front.
This bill, if passed into law, puts every officer one assign- ment away from losing their employment, comp time, pen- sion and freedom.
So when those officers ask me if they should retire now (even before the bill becomes law), I don’t tell them “yes,” but I do explain the reality to them. Every officer is in a differ- ent place financially. But officers need to be aware that there could come a time when they will be forced to make a de- cision to retire on a moment’s notice — because they have more than just their job to lose.
SecondVice President’s Report
Should you retire now?
DAN GORMAN
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2021 11