These are the stories of the American Police Veterans.
America made a promise to take care of those that have protected America. That promise wasn't broken. It was empty words. Some of those words were turned into laws, where they were ignored. America Thinks that retired and disabled law enforcement officers are living large at the expense of the taxpayer. Read their stories. Then decide for yourself. Who is paying the ultimate price for safe American communities.
I get really pissed when I hear the stories of abused and neglected disabled cops! Cops and the public get the sales pitch about how everyone takes care of you.
Well the pitch really is about you dying. If you die and the TV cameras are rolling to cover the story, they'll take care of your family. They'll throw you a nice sendoff and cops you never knew will come to see you off. They'll talk about you and your funeral for years to come. They'll never forget you, they'll engrave your name on monuments and websites throughout the world. Even when an officer commits suicide they get the same treatment. They're often idolized and their sins are forgiven. Maybe they don't get engraved and usually the families don't get a pension, but I have to make the point.
We know what happens when the TV cameras are not rolling, when someone dies from an occupational illness, or when they die from a disability after taking disability retirement. When good cops get hurt their is no glory. There is no honor! Their is no one there for the cop or the family.
In many places if you die Line of Duty Death (LODD), your family gets 100% of your pay and all the perks. A career ending injury gets 72% or less with no real cost of living adjustments, no college for the kids or spouse, and no lump sum payments. The medical expenses don't get taken care of and our children don't have a lot of the opportunities that they should.
Just take the pay. In Mass. the family of a LODD gets 100% of the regular compensation. I went out on disability retirement and got 72%. Doesn't anyone understand that I'm still consuming. Financially, I'm a burden (figuratively speaking) on my family. Economically, I should have died to protect my family financially. If I make more annually than their cap they take it away, but there are no income restrictions for the widow! Then you take my friend Dennis, he's spends $18,000 a year in medical expenses or was that just the medications? We've got Al not knowing where and how to get a wheel chair, scooter or how to get appropriate and reliable transportation.
I just had to rant on this subject and to ask. Does the that promise of being taken care of only come with a casket?
7/12/2006 10:43 PM
BAH wrote:
It is about time the REAL truth comes out with our 1.8 million disabled officers. It gets to the point protesting and screaming is about the only way deafened ears hear the truth and the hardships and pain all of these officers have given to their service and country. Thank you for writing this.
