Sun-Times Series Looks At Police Disability Pay
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 16, 2012 4:25PM
The Sun-Times launched an investigative series Sunday that looks into the disability pay being collected by Chicago police officers, how much it’s costing the city and singles out cops who are working second and third jobs while collecting disability pay. If you want to get a better understanding as to why pension plans in Chicago and Illinois are insolvent, do yourself a favor and read this series.
Sun-Times reporters Tim Novak and Chris Fusco reported that $18 million is paid out to officers on limited duty disability pay annually, all of it paid out from the policemen’s pension fund. There’s little incentive for them to return to work after they’ve recovered from their injuries and the Police Department has found it hard, if not impossible, to fire them. Moreover, these officers collecting disability pay can do so until they turn 63, when they can then collect a larger policeman’s pension and have their status as a policeman on the disabled list counted toward their pensions. If we knew this, we would have entered the Police Academy out of high school, twisted a knee after we earned our shield, then became editor of Chicagoist. Ballin’!
Among the 347 officers collecting disability pay from the Police Department:
- Donald E. Barnes, Jr., who suffered heat stroke during a jog 10 days into his training at the Police Academy and has collected disability pay ever since. Barnes stands to collect up to $1.2 million in disability pay until the age of 63, when he then can collect a full policeman’s pension. He also works as a regional manager for Standard Parking, which manages the parking garages for O’Hare and Midway Airports under city contracts.
- Charles T. Siedlecki, who began collecting disability payments almost 20 years ago after injuring himself chasing a group of Beverly teens, but has since become a lawyer and worked in his family’s mortuary business. (The Sun-Times even shared a photo of Siedlecki on an African safari in 2003.)
Seven cops are collecting disability pay who live outside of Illinois, including Siedlecki, whom a doctor said was incapable of “safely discharging a firearm” despite going on African safaris.
These officers also receive free health insurance for themselves and their families. It's also embarrassing that cops like Siedlecki are collecting disability pay when cops like Jim Mullen, who was paralyzed from the neck down while in the line of duty, are wondering if there will be enough money in the police pension fund to last the rest of his life.
Naturally, each side is now laying the blame on the other in the wake of the Sun-Times report. The Fraternal Order of Police says the Police Department doesn’t want these officers back on duty. The Emanuel administration say there are plenty of limited-duty desk jobs available for these cops to handle. Emanuel’s office has now instructed the Police Pension Board to crack down on abuses. That may be hard to do: if the vote to strip former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge is an indication, the votes on the eight person panel tend to split across police department and political lines.