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The Lakeland Police Department is facing the retirement of most of its top brass in the next several years, creating a potential dilemma for the city.
Police Chief Sam Taylor said he has a strong cadre of senior officers who have declared their intention to retire and many young officers recruited in the past few years. But there are only a handful of people in the middle.
The graying of LPD: Eight of LPD’s 10 executive staff members — which includes the chief, three assistant chiefs, five captains and one lieutenant — are in the city of Lakeland’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, also known as DROP. Six sergeants are also in DROP.
What is DROP? The program, to which employees contribute a part of their salary, allows pension-eligible employees to collect their normal salaries and have the pension payments they’d have received if they had left placed in an untouchable account for up to eight years. The retirement pay rate is set at the level they entered DROP.
The city expanded the program from five to eight years in 2023 to make its compensation package more competitive and keep employees longer. When the LPD leaders do leave the force, they will collect the accumulated DROP salary in one lump sum and immediately begin receiving their retirement pensions.
LPD employees qualify for a pension after 10 years on the force. They are paid 3% of their salary for every year they have worked at LPD at the rate of their top five years’ salary. So, someone who worked 33 years would receive 99% of their salary based on the average of their top five years’ pay — typically their last five years of employment.
‘Free money’: For an officer making $86,291 for the last five years, who has worked at LPD for 30 years, that means about a $77,600 annual pension.
Police Chief Sam Taylor calls the deferred pension salary “free money” and uses it as a recruiting tool to lure new officers in an age when pensions are rare and a double payment of a pension and salary for eight years happens only for state, county and municipal workers, teachers or employees with strong unions.
Taylor applied for DROP in June 2022, before he became chief. He has been at LPD for 36 years and will receive 100% of his salary, based on his pay as assistant chief of $128,000. If he collects it for the full eight years and retires in 2030 — which will be mandatory — he will have accumulated $1.024 million in DROP money.
An anomaly: Taylor said the high number of his executive officers in DROP is an anomaly.
“I would say that’s probably unusual. I can’t imagine that that would be the norm for most police departments,” Taylor said Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve had a rash of retirements here lately, like the past probably four or five years. We’ve had not just the top brass, but the officers as well.”
Taylor said he has recruited many young police officers and still has a strong group of senior members, but the middle tier is sparse.
“That’s kind of as a result of, you know, we went through like a four- or five-year lull industry-wide,” Taylor said.
Effects of George Floyd killing: The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 launched nationwide protests against law enforcement officers — including in Lakeland — and enrollment in law enforcement academies dropped. Then, in 2023, DROP changed from five years of double pay to eight years, and many officers signed up.
LPD sworn officers had a starting base salary of $57,833 in 2024, according to the city’s budget. Full department-sponsored scholarships are available to attend the police academy and students can earn a salary while training.
By the numbers: LPD has 272 authorized, sworn full-time officers:
- One chief.
- Three assistant chiefs.
- Five captains.
- 12 lieutenants.
- 38 sergeants.
- 213 officers and detectives.
- 122 civilian employees.
More comings than goings: In the last five calendar years, 127 full-time LPD employees resigned, retired or were terminated. In addition, seven part-time employees left. In that same timeframe, LPD filled 147 full-time police officer vacancies and 6 part-time police officer vacancies.
“Just as an added note, we have had 47 sworn promotions, sergeant and above, since Jan. 2019,” LPD spokeswoman Robin Tillett said.
In July, LPD hired seven officers, some fresh from the law enforcement academy.
Salaries: According to the city’s fiscal year 2024 budget, the ranges of Lakeland Police salaries, depending on experience, are:
- Police Chief — $144,768 to $231,629 (Taylor earns $174,000 annually).
- Assistant Police Chief — $114,384 to $183,015.
- Captain — $101,675 to $162,680.
- Lieutenant — $105,766 to $117,341.
- Sergeant — $89,737 to $102,046.
- Officer — $57,833 to $86,291.
LPD officials said they have an established process of sending mid-level managers to leadership development programs to ensure there is always a next generation of leaders ready for promotion when the time comes.
Potential solution: The department only has a few years to bolster its mid-tier ranks, but there is a strong incentive for seasoned officers to consider joining. An advantage of the city’s self-funded pension plan is that law enforcement from other agencies who retire via the Florida Retirement System can join Lakeland’s force and get a second pension.
Stacking pensions: Det. Mark Pothier runs LPD’s drone. He spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Army and Army reserves and 25 years at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, retired from both of those and then went to work for LPD. He said he is hoping to do a full 10 years with LPD to qualify for a third pension.
DROP choices: Taylor said there are multiple choices that officers have to make about the DROP program, some of which have additional costs:
- Do they want their annual increase to follow the stock market or earn a guaranteed 6.5%?
- Do they want their spouse to receive their pension if they should die first?
- If yes, what percentage of their pension do they want their spouse to receive?
Taylor said that, while the job can be difficult, the pension and DROP make it worthwhile financially. And city officials want to retain experienced officers, particularly after investing time and money in their training.
“I don’t know what other industry you can find that deal in,” he said. “We have a very, very, very generous pension plan and that’s one of the attractive things I tell these young guys and girls thinking about getting this line of work. That’s one of the benefits we still have.”
He said were it not for DROP, he could have walked out the door on June 1, 2022.
“I would be at my cabin in North Carolina, enjoying a 54-degree morning, like my wife. She called me and said, ‘It was 54 degrees up here this morning,’” Taylor said.
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