In the 34 years Tom worked for the Dallas Police Department,
he said 36 officers were killed in the line of duty, countless were injured and
some were paralyzed.
Before the creation of the city’s DROP retirement program,
virtually all officers left at age 50 because they had maxed out their pension,
Tom said.
“When it came time, I went into DROP at age 48 and took a
reduced pension to do that. I didn't invent DROP, I didn't steal anything, I am
not a thief,” he said. “I only did what the city and department wanted—for me
to stay longer.”
DROP worked well for the city, he said. It kept hundreds of officers past what would
have been the normal age to retire.
“In my case, I stayed until age 56. The city got at least six more years of
service and a reduced pension amount because of DROP,” he said.
Now, Mayor Mike Rawlings and the city want to seize
retiree’s pension accounts and garnish their pension checks for money already
earned.
“The city and the Mayor want confrontation, not
cooperation,” Tom said. “The problem is the city doesn’t want to do its part. Had the Mayor said some time ago, ‘The police
officers and firefighters of this city have always taken care of us, we will
take care of them’ much of this situation could have been avoided. The Mayor
wanted a crisis and spoke of bankruptcy to create it.”
“I believe that my benefits are protected by a State
Constitutional agreement and by common sense,” he said. “I want to help fix the
crisis. I want to be part of the solution. The city has never been concerned
about the pension until it got to this point. The city needs to step up.”
#PoundOfFlesh, #savethepension, #backtheblue
#PoundOfFlesh, #savethepension, #backtheblue
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