Hey Officer, What’s Your Number?

As a hard working police officer have you ever wondered what you’ve been saving all your hard earned money for?  You probably answered with the obvious—retirement.  But let’s be more specific; what is retirement?  What does retirement mean to those of us in law enforcement?  Does it mean quitting your job and spending the rest of our life on a golf course?  I doubt you’d be golfing long before you’re just as board with golf as you were at the job you retired from.

I think a better description of retirement for cops is “financial independence.”  This means different things to different people, but I suggest it means you no longer HAVE to work, because your money works for you.  It does not necessarily mean you quit working, but in a law enforcement retirement maybe you stop doing police work and only do the kind of work you want to do.  To get there, you need to have saved enough money so… Continue reading

How Will the Obama Stimulus Package Affect You as a Police Officer?

You’ve probably heard of the stimulus package because the media has been obsessed with it since February 17th when it was signed, but you may not know how it pertains to you.  As police officers or other law enforcement professionals this Act will have the same effect on you as other Americans but you should understand what it does.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as it’s formally named, is a blend of tax cuts, Continue reading

Successful Cop: Chuck Rylant

I recently had the opportunity to interview a police officer who really has planned for success in his life and his career.

Chuck Rylant began his law enforcement career in 1998 with the Lompoc Police Department in California. During those four years, he worked in a patrol car and later as a field training officer. While working graveyards on patrol, he chipped away at his bachelor degree by taking one class at a time. Looking back, he can remember struggling to stay awake while doing homework between 3:00 AM – 6:00 AM when there were only a few calls during his patrol shift. Unfortunately, he went through a divorce and had to put off finishing college for a couple of years while he got his “life in order”. Continue reading