Pre-Retirement Workshop

The Tampa Fire & Police Pension Board is once again offering a pre-retirement workshop for its members. It is mainly intended for people with 19+ years of service but the information could be helpful to any member. Everyone in the target group should receive an individual notice and RSVP form.

There will be two workshops to accomodate fire & police schedules. They will be held Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 2:00 pm and Friday, September 15, 2006 at 10:00 am at the Tampa Convention Center.


As with all meetings of the Pension Board, the workshop will be open to the public, so obviously anyone having interest is welcome to attend. For space and refreshment places it is requested that anyone wishing to attend RSVP using the form at the below link.

Pat Lynch
Vice-Chairman

Pre-Retirement Workshop Notice & RSVP:

http://www.tampagov.net/dept_fp_pension ... 20RSVP.pdf (http://www.tampagov.net/dept_fp_pension/files/Pre-Retirement%20Wkshp/2006%20Notice%20and%20RSVP.pdf)

Thanks Pat
Do you have or will there be at the TCC any info or do you know where I can get any information on studies / actuarial info about longevity after retirement from our profession?

[Pat Lynch]

We used to have more people speak at the Pre-Retirement Workshop. Some of the problem was that the information wasn't real useful (timely) for people that have a while to work.

For example, Social Security used to come and tell you how the Federal government was going to penalize you for not paying into Social Security at TPD. The problem with that is it doesn't affect you for another 15-20 years after retiring and hopefully by then the law will be changes. There will not be anybody there talking about longevity after retirement but I think it is a good idea. There has been some resistance in the past since we aren't supposed to give "advise". Hopefully we can work on some stuff for the future.

Here's a good recent article by Dr. John Violanti, a retired New York State trooper. He works for the Law Enforcement Wellness Center.

Dying from the Job: The Mortality Risk for Police Officers
by John M. Violanti, PhD

http://www.cophealth.com/articles/articles_dying_a.html

One more reason to retire ASAP and move on to other meaningful work:
In addition to all of the medical maladies, pitfalls and dangers of being a cop, the last paragraph of Dr. Violanti's study shows....


Lastly, there is need for police departments to consider alternatives to police organizational structure which can produce much of the stress experienced by police officers. Officers report that approximately 90% of stress in their work is a result of a highly structured, unresponsive, uncaring administration. Changes should include allowing officers the opportunity to participate in decisions affecting their work, and a greater organizational awareness of problems at the street level.