“If he stays in this special retention program for 8 years he can retire with a pension between 400k to half a million dollars. “
That sounds like one of those programs where someone has retired. A department hires them back, and banks their salary for 8 years. At the end of that period, they get a lump sum for that deferred salary for that entire period.
The department gets a very experience cop who isn’t out wrecking cars, getting sued, learning the ropes, but they don’t have to pony up the salary up front like the would for a new hire. The city can invest the amount it takes to pay them 8 years from now.
it’s a very good deal for the city compared to the alternative.
That wasn’t the way he presented it to me. It was presented as a yearly pension, not a deferred lump sum payout. I see him and the firefighter occasionally. I will verify. He said he could retire at 53 years old, not that he was retiring. What you describe is double-dipping. The practice should be outlawed IMO.