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Yes, disability pensions are certainly a drain on the cities financial reserves. However, there are those police officers who are on a police disability pension that are legitimately disabled, most of whom are unable to work on any job. Than there are those who really could return to work but are to old to perform the duties of a police officer or a firefighter. Certainly, no one would expect to see a 65 year old man climbing a ladder to rescue someone from a burning structure,or expect a 50 year old police officer chase a young robber down Main Street.Some politicians have made the suggestion that retirement ages be increased to age 50 and 65 for police and firemen in that order. I submit that in the past the reason that the retirement age was set at 25 years of service is because it has been proven that beyond those years it is dangerous, not only for the police or firemen, but also for the general public to keep a firemen or police officer on the job longer. However, now that a person is employable at age 18 the retirement age could be increased.Also the departments would be hard pressed to find a position for returning disablity personel since there are only a few positions within the confines of either the Fire Department or the Police Department.Obviously, there has to be some reform to the disability pension system in Warwick but let us not rush into drastically making changes until all aspects of the system are explored.

From: City police, fire disability payments top $8M a year

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