There was a considerable story in today’s Star Tribune about the public pensions system that serves the police and fire employees of Minnesota cities and counties.
The story, written by Mark Brunswick and Tony Kennedy, describes a number of situations in which a pensioner of the system is or has abused the system. Specifically, they describe a number of situations in which a healthy person was receiving a disability pension.
I’m sure that if one looks for abuses, you would find them in any pension system. I think you must remember that this is the Star Tribune opining on our city’s police and firefighting employees who the authors refer to as “baton-swinging street officer or ladder-climbing firefighter.” Not very respectfully, I might add.
The police and fire pension system was designed to insure that police and firefighters who are disabled in the course of serving the public are provided for appropriately. If the system is being exploited unfairly, police and firefighters will be the first ones to stand up and recommend a solution. After all, it’s their pension fund that is being exploited.
But I hope the legislature is careful not to compromise the entire police and firefighter pension system. It is important to provide for the men and women who assume the risk of protecting you and me from the perils of the modern world.
