{"id":2612,"date":"2016-05-26T06:13:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T10:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=2612"},"modified":"2016-07-19T13:30:11","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T17:30:11","slug":"police-psychology-disabled-police-officer-or-scammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=2612","title":{"rendered":"Police Psychology | Disabled Police Officer or Scammer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police Psychology | Disabled Police Officer or Scammer?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Sgt, John R. \u00a0Ret. Deputy Sheriff<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is a Disabled Police Officer? \u00a0I will tell you. He or she is \u201cLucky,\u201d \u201cA Scammer,\u201d \u201cFaking It,\u201d \u201cHas Hit The Jackpot,\u201d \u201c Malingering,\u201d \u201c Making it Worse Than it is,\u201d \u201cLazy,\u201d \u201cTrying to Get Out of Work,\u201d and the names go on and on\u2026 .\u00a0 If you have become permanently \u201cDisabled in The Line of Duty\u201d perhaps you have been called one of these names, or similar ones, to your face. I will say you have, most definitely, been called one of these names behind your back. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
On Long Island, New York a police officer gets three-quarters of his salary if he is in an accident or one-half if he is injured doing his job.\u00a0 A sheriff gets three-quarters if it is prisoner-related and one half if it is not prisoner-related.\u00a0 Three-quarters tax-free is essentially a little more than they were making while they were working.\u00a0 Perhaps it is because some of these officers don\u2019t \u201clook\u201d injured. Perhaps it is because many in our police culture have joked, one time or another, about \u201cHitting the Jackpot\u201d or \u201cGoing Out\u201d on a disability pension when they have had a bad day at work, experience burnout or get the feeling that this job just isn\u2019t worth the aggravation. Or perhaps, it is because we all know someone who is a \u201cDisabled Police Officer\u201d, who runs road races, does power lifting, competes in triathlons or works roofing or other heavy manual labor jobs on the side while claiming to be \u201cDisabled.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0There are lots of reasons on Long Island to be suspicious.<\/span><\/p>\n
Then again, maybe these offices have permanent injuries that don\u2019t interfere with their physical abilities? Injuries you can\u2019t see. \u00a0Maybe they have lost a significant amount of their hearing or they have PTSD that knocked their balance off<\/a>.\u00a0 Maybe they have severe constant headaches. \u00a0Could some of them be scamming the system? I\u2019m afraid, in some instances, this may be the case. Could some of these officers just be taking advantage of a system that allows them to be injured one day and continue collecting a disability pension years later when they have recovered from those injuries? In some instances, this too is the case. I have spoken with many disabled police officers from NYC who sustained line-of-duty injuries that forced them into a disability retirement. Some of these officers however, are working as full duty police officers in other jurisdictions while still collecting their disability pensions? These officers claim they have fully or partially recovered from their injuries and the particular retirement system they are in allows for this. Despite what many of us think, these types of disability pensions are rare. I have spoken with other disabled officers in nearby jurisdictions throughout the country that have pathetic or no disability pension plans at all. \u00a0Unions are not the same across the country.\u00a0 Why does an officer getting something negotiated in their contract get them labeled as \u201cScammers\u201d or those who \u201cHave it Made\u201d? \u00a0I tried to start an organization for injured police officers and the feeling that they were scammers was so prevalent, no one would join. We don\u2019t believe in us!<\/span><\/p>\n
If you are permanently disabled and live everyday of your life in pain, whether physically, emotionally or otherwise, I know you can relate to what I have been saying. I\u2019m here to tell you, you are not alone. I too am permanently disabled due to line of duty injuries as a police officer. I served as a police officer for 21 years. Of those 21 years, I served five of these years as a detective and five as a supervisor. \u00a0As compared to others I can say, I not only \u201ctalked the talk\u201d but I also \u201cwalked the walk\u201d like many of you have. Throughout my career, I served in patrol units, conducted dozens of felony investigations, worked in warrant units, elite undercover narcotics and gang task forces. I made hundreds of arrests, wrote thousands of summonses, and saw death and heartache too many times.<\/span><\/p>\n
After all of this, I know firsthand those names we are called by others do hurt and I regret ever having a doubt about anyone when I was working. I know too, that our disabilities go far beyond what we are physically incapable of doing. For me, losing the ability to walk freely without a cane, walker or mobility scooter was devastating.\u00a0 Enduring the sleeplessness, the constant pain from my neck, back and legs and the dizziness and migraines as my condition worsens are not all I have lost. I can\u2019t even lift my whole foot at times.<\/span><\/p>\n
Not only do we as officers suffer from our disabilities but our families suffer as well. Our spouses now have to deal with undiscovered forms of stress, anxiety and the unknown as they sleep next to a stranger and wonder where is the person they married, as if they didn\u2019t have enough to deal with already just being married to a police officer. Our children suffer, having to grow up with a \u201cbroken\u201d Dad or Mom \u2013 a dad that can no longer run with them in the park, a dad that can\u2019t keep up with them just walking to the bus stop<\/u>. The images of Mom, Dad and the kids holding hands, laughing and skipping through Disney World will never be our family again. Our children draw unnecessary stares from friends as we limp, drag our foot, and wobble up to the football field to watch them play. In private and at home they may say they are proud of us or love us just as much. But when they say, \u201cjust stay home Dad, you don\u2019t have to come to my game or you don\u2019t have to see me in my show\u201d, what they are really saying is \u201cjust stay home Dad, I don\u2019t feel like being embarrassed today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Does a disability pension with a 30%, 50% or 75% payout compensate our families for what they must endure? Does this disability pension give us back our dignity? Our pride? Our will to succeed? Does it compensate us, mostly, for our loss of hope? The hope that things will get better. The hope that we will recover and get back to what we used to be. \u00a0The hope that our spouse will someday love us again, instead of having that distant stare. Does it compensate us for no longer being a Superhero to the neighborhood children? I can tell you, mine does not.<\/span><\/p>\n
So, before you call me a \u201cscammer\u201d, say I \u201chave it made\u201d or ignore me when we were once friends, remember, most of us are truly disabled and have lost far more than what you can see.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Site Editor:\u00a0 Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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Come back regularly for more updated articles on police psychology<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police Psychology | Disabled Police Officer or Scammer? Sgt, John R. \u00a0Ret. Deputy Sheriff \u00a0 What is a Disabled Police Officer? \u00a0I will tell you. He or she is \u201cLucky,\u201d \u201cA Scammer,\u201d \u201cFaking It,\u201d \u201cHas Hit The Jackpot,\u201d \u201c Malingering,\u201d \u201c Making it Worse Than it is,\u201d \u201cLazy,\u201d \u201cTrying to Get Out of Work,\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17168928,17168797],"class_list":["post-2612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-police-officers","tag-police-psychology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":748,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=748","url_meta":{"origin":2612,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | Are You Cooperative or Competitive?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Are You Cooperative or Competitive? \u00a0 This question resonates for all police psychology from testing to operational to consulting to working with the officer in a therapeutic role.\u00a0 Are you cooperative or competitive? In order to understand this question better, we need to understand the specific differences\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Motives and Opportunity"","block_context":{"text":"Motives and Opportunity","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168884"},"img":{"alt_text":"Police psychology, competitive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/65917-20150924-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=684","url_meta":{"origin":2612,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology | The War on Police: “Officer-Directed Violence”","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The War on Police: \u201cOfficer-Directed Violence\u201d Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., CMI-V, BCFT, CFA Let\u2019s see a show of hands. Every one of you who recognize these names raise em up. Michael Brown? Freddie Grey? OK. 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