State police faces retirement wave

The Arkansas State Police is bracing for a wave of “delayed” retirements that will crest mid-2012.

The state’s largest law enforcement agency loses 20 commissioned officers to retirement in 2012 and 2013, but the bulk will be gone by next July, said Bill Sadler, spokesman for the state police. Itwill be one of the largest, if not the largest, retirement groups since 1995.

Sadler said several retirees are in supervisory positions, but all are spread among four of the agency’s five divisions: highway patrol; criminal investigation; and regulatory and administrative. The Crimes Against Children Division is made up entirely of civilian personnel, he said.

The retiring troopers participated in the state’s Delayed Retirement Option Plan, which allows them to work up to seven years after declaring their intention to retire, Sadler said. He said 15 of 16 troopers leaving the agency in 2012 will retire by July, with another four scheduled to retire in 2013.

“We’re approaching a timein the history of the state police we will see a lot of retirements,” he said. “We have known for several years there is a point in time when the deferred retirement program will peak.”

None of the retirements is coming from troop headquarters that serves the 12 counties in Northwest Arkansas, according to the four captains who oversee those units.

“As far as this area, we’re good,” said Capt. Mike Foster, commander of the Harrisonbased troop. “But it’s really going to hurt the department. We’re losing them faster than we can replace them.”

Sadler said the agency’s staffing levels are fluid and troop commanders make adjustments to ensure adequate coverage. Should the need arise, troopers can be sent to assist neighboring troops or any troop in the state, he said.

The state police strives to maintain 525-550 commissioned officers, though that total typically ranges from 510 to 553, Sadler said. The agency expects to have 515 commissioned personnel by the end of the year, down from 541 in April, he said.

But by January, the agency will be back within its target for commissioned officers when it hires 35 new recruits, Sadler said. The recruits, who will be drawn from a pool of more than 3,000 applicants, will go through a training academy scheduled to begin Feb. 27, he said.

Graduates will help replace those scheduled to retire. New trooper assignments will be based on recommendations by command staff.

Troop commanders across the state await to see if they’ll be assigned any of the graduates, said Capt. Dale Saffold, commander of Troop J, based in Clarksville.

“When you’re losing 15 or20 experienced personnel, 35 [doesn’t] go very far, but you take what you can get and [are] proud of what you can get,” Saffold said.

Similar agencies in other states are being confronted with having to lay off personnel or implement furloughs to cut costs, he said.

“You can always use more people, but you have to balance that with what you can afford and what the taxpayers can afford,” Saffold said. “So we’ve been very fortunate that the moneys have been managed very well in state of Arkansas.”

TWO-TIER SYSTEM

The wave of retirees is a result of how the state police hires new troopers, said Gail Stone, executive director of the Arkansas Public Employee Retirement System. The troopers getting ready to retire all started working for the agency about the same time and entered the deferred retirement plan at the first available moment, Stone said.

“It’s like their graduating class going through at the same time,” she said.

The state police has a two-tier retirement system, and all of the pending retirees are in Tier 1, she said. Tier 2 was created in 1997 and none of the troopers participating in Tier 2 will eligible for retirement for another 15 to 16 years, Stone said.

Troopers in the Tier 1 benefit plan may retire with full benefits with 20 “actual” years of service at age 52, Stone said. Troopers in Tier 1 earn 1.5 years of retirement credit for each year on the job, Stone said, so 20 years of service earns them 30 years of retirement credit.

Those in the Tier 2 plan may retire with full benefits with 30 years of service at age 65, Stone said.

Once a trooper enters the delayed retirement plan, interest accrues on his retirement account while he continues to work for up to sevenyears. When the trooper retires, he is given the choice of receiving the seven years of interest in a lump sum or having it paid out over time, Stone said.

Last month, state police Lt. Glenn Sligh asked the Arkansas State Police Retirement System to increase the interest rate paid to the deferred retirement accounts from 3.75 percent annually to either 7.75 percent or 2 percent below the system’s rate of return for its portfolio, whichever is higher.

The rate of return was reduced after Act 404 of 2007 authorized the system to set a lower rate of return.

Sligh, who is commander of Criminal Investigation Division Company C in Hope, said three troopers in his company who are retiring are part of a wave of troopers who went through the academy about the same time.

“Some of my partners will go this year,” Sligh said, referring to retiring troopers who graduated from the academy in February 1979.

Sligh said that 1979, which had two academies, marked the end of a hiring freeze prompted by a 1977 complaint over the state police’s hiring and promotion practices.

The agency amended its personnel policies as part of a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in 1978. Federal courts maintained oversight of the agency to ensure compliance until March 2007.

Sligh said that after the academy, he and his classmates were scattered around the state. He said many became eligible for retirement about the same time and if not for the delayed retirement plan, many would have left years ago.

“It just kind of comes with the territory,” he said. “You usually all get hired around the same age and if y’all stay, you’ll end up going about the same time.” To contact this reporter:

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