Police Chief Offers 'Easy Change' to Fix Embattled Retirement Program

Friday, May 4, 2018 | 2

The top cop in Los Angeles proposed an “easy change” to ensure that the city’s deferred retirement program is not susceptible to fraud or abuse, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

Chief Charlie Beck

The Times in March reported that nearly half of the police and firefighters who enrolled in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan ended up taking time off for work injuries. The plan approved by voters in 2001 allows retirement-age police and firefighters to start receiving pension payments for up to five years while they also earn their regular salary.

Police Chief Charlie Beck during a City Council meeting on Monday said one way to shore up the program would be to suspend pension payments to enrollees who take disability leave. The chief said he can’t speak for the union, but he hasn’t talked to anyone who objects to the proposal.

The chief also offered a suggestion for dealing with those who might be defrauding the program or the city: “I have one solution for abuse, and it is state prison,” he said.

The Los Angeles Police Department in March announced that Terry Johns, who retired in 2016 after participating in the deferred retirement program, was charged with workers’ compensation fraud. The department has not elaborated on charges against Johns beyond saying he was observed engaging in activity that was not consistent with his claimed injuries.

The Times reports Johns filed a claim for a back injury in 2014, shortly before he enrolled in the retirement program.