CPD pension news

I know there alot of CPD in 60655 so I thought you might like this... I know just how important a pension is. Here is a youtube link to a Fox news piece and a copy of an email Trustee Shields sent out. From what my guy on the department tells me, this Shields guy is really shaking things up over at the pension board...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNo0L6TK2eA

Last week, a Detective on the Police Department brought to my attention that Mike Masters was participating in our Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago. As an appointed member of the exempt ranks, Masters has a salary of $155,000+. I then decided to investigate further with other exempt member. Weis, Brust, Daly and Klimas were all former FBI agents appointed to exempt ranks. They too are participating.

This is not simply a matter of sworn vs non-sworn members of the exempt rank. The fact that these member never participated to our fund prior to their exempt appointment eliminates them.

Here is the law: The Illinois Pension Code that governs our fund includes persons of exempt rank in our fund only if they meet the following criteria under Sec 5-109.

"Policeman" : (b) An employee as defined in sub-paragraph (a) immediately above who is serving in the regularly constituted police department of a city in a rank or position which is exempt from civil service and who, immediately prior to the time he began such service, was a participant in the Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund Act

The five exempt members have a salary ranging from $140,000 to $310,000. This is a lot of money to expose our pension fund to the risk of these members obtaining a pension. If these members were to be participants in our fund for 3 Years, they can take advantage of our loopholes in the pension code. If they get another "safety or investigative" job after the 3 years on our department, in either the County, the State, the City, the Federal Government, or become a police Chief outside of the city, they can continue to participate in our fund.

Here is the law: Sec 5-414 Credit For Service

Any participant in this fund (other than a member of the fire department of the city) who has rendered service as a member of the police department of the city for a period of 3 years or more is entitled to credit for the various purposes of this article for service rendered prior to becoming a member or subsequent thereto for the following periods:

(c) While performing safety or investigative work for the county in which such city is principally located or for the State of Illinois or for the federal government, on leave of absence from the department of police, or while performing investigative work for the department as a civilian employee of the department.
(d) While on leave of absence from the police department of the city and serving as the chief of police of a police department outside the city.

Not only does our Board need to remove them from this fund, we also need to explore how it is that these members were invited in to our fund in the first place. Who let them in? As we all take a closer look at this pension system, we realize that it is far too often that the chosen ones benefit from this fund, not the hard working men and women of this department. It takes a village to raise a child. In our case, it takes an entire police department to police our pension fund.

Michael K. Shields