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Posted: 11/19/2023 10:59:09 PM EDT
[Last Edit: CSIGunNut]
Left the LE world after 25 years. Did a stint in the private sector in a specialized field. By week two I hated it and was gone by week 7. Already been putting in for some LE jobs but only ones that suit what I want to do. Don't have the patience for patrol anymore.
So how many of you retired and were back in before the year was over? *** Well, I made it almost ten months! I took a job earlier this month as an Investigator with a local DA's Office. |
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Posted: 11/20/2023 12:52:51 AM EDT
[#1]
Retired on a Friday, started my Fed gig on a Monday.
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Posted: 11/20/2023 12:58:25 AM EDT
[#2]
Pulled the pin after 41 years.
City has an ordinance requiring police and fire to retire by their 65th birthday. Had no desire to go back. Law enforcement just isn't what it used to be. You can't even shoot a fleeing felon in the back anymore. |
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Posted: 11/20/2023 7:23:22 AM EDT
[#3]
My Granddad spent 33 years with Florida High Patrol. Retired for 1 year then spent 10 years with the Sheriff's Department. Retired again. After 6 months he went back for another 9 years.
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Posted: 11/20/2023 7:40:16 AM EDT
[#4]
Go by the county court house. You’ll see a lot of retired LE working there.
At least in our court. They stay in the job for various reasons and it’s about half the staff is ret. LE |
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Posted: 11/20/2023 7:49:54 AM EDT
[#5]
Out after 20 years and you could not drag me back in kicking and screaming. It's an adjustment for sure and I can see how it is tempting to return for a lot of people. Many of the people I worked and retired with did go back, usually within about 6 months. My new job is boring and there definitely isn't the comradery or brotherhood of LE, but I'm also not a liability sponge and I haven't been in a fight or even threatened at work. The straight days, no weekends, no holidays, and no rotating shifts thing is also great.
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Posted: 11/20/2023 1:10:14 PM EDT
[#6]
After 20 years and 2 full knee replacements, hearing almost gone, body worn out from years of playing ball all my life, military and SWAT, I would still be doing it if I could. Yes, I know it has changed for the worst, but I loved the work and hated the admin and political crap. Backstabbing and brown nosing I also do not miss. Comes with the territory I guess. I took my oath seriously and the US Constitution seriously. Still do. To hell with anyone that has worn a uniform that does not.
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Posted: 11/21/2023 2:33:43 AM EDT
[#7]
Well, technically I went back a day later to work half time when I retired from full time in 2019. Since pulling the plug for good this spring I have no intentions to going back at all. Had one of the chiefs of the villages I used to work at part time stop by the house to see if I would come back to work for them. Not interested...
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OH, USA
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Posted: 11/21/2023 9:19:12 PM EDT
[Last Edit: fergus556]
[#8]
I'll never go back. Retirement after 31 years is awesome. After you leave the department forgets you.
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USA
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Posted: 11/21/2023 10:26:26 PM EDT
[#9]
I have gone back for a cup of coffee once...does that count?
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Posted: 12/12/2023 1:11:04 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By 18B30: Retired on a Friday, started my Fed gig on a Monday. Retired in May,started my Fed gig in May. |
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SC, USA
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Posted: 12/12/2023 6:30:45 AM EDT
[Last Edit: MattDillon]
[#11]
I retired on a Friday and went to work for the Feds on Monday 15 years ago. I retired from the Feds this past March
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WV, USA
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Posted: 12/12/2023 7:13:23 AM EDT
[#12]
I never went back but miss it a lot and still take/teach a lot of classes
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Posted: 12/12/2023 8:03:26 AM EDT
[#13]
I went back to part time in the Training Division/Firing Range after 6 months.
I’m too lazy to get a real job and they keep me supplied with all the ammo my addiction requires. |
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OR, USA
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Posted: 12/12/2023 7:35:42 PM EDT
[#14]
December 1st was 26 years in PERS. I retired and came back to work the next day doing the double dipping gig. Since I can't afford to buy a new place on one job(FJB) I will continue working for awhile until I can.
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Posted: 12/12/2023 8:09:11 PM EDT
[#15]
I'm not going back but I did over 40 years. My knees, hips and back are worn out.
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USA
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Posted: 12/12/2023 8:29:49 PM EDT
[#16]
After 32 years...when Biden drafts all Americans between the ages of 14 and 80 for WW3, I'll volunteer for the Infantry.
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Posted: 12/12/2023 8:34:31 PM EDT
[#17]
Starting year 28…. Happy and work a job I enjoy with a great team.
I’m not in a hurry to go |
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Posted: 12/12/2023 9:09:01 PM EDT
[#18]
Out after 25 years, was gone for 45 days. Went back as a part time bailiff for 24 hours a week. Now allni do is work the range for 24 hrs a week.
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TX, USA
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Posted: 12/15/2023 3:19:10 PM EDT
[#19]
Retired after 23 years. that was 23 years ago. I never went back. The department I worked for broke you, broke your spirit, just broke you. It was a small dept, 32 sworn, with the exception of 3, every person retired and left the state. some left the country, several went to jail. YES THAT RIGHTS CORRECT, IT WAS NEW YORK STATE. I have not crossed the border in 23 years. Never will.
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TX, USA
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Posted: 12/15/2023 3:27:16 PM EDT
[#20]
I left the department 23 years ago, still waiting for someone to call and ask how I am.
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Posted: 12/15/2023 8:54:34 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By madmac58: I left the department 23 years ago, still waiting for someone to call and ask how I am. After being gone for 23 years I suspect that there's not many from your generation still left in uniform |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 12/16/2023 11:08:17 AM EDT
[#22]
Started contract work about 6 weeks after retiring, (doing background checks for recruiting and filing their FEMA and ICS training paperwork) but that really was work from home stuff and only lasted a year.
Local sheriff has been dropping hints he needs a communications supervisor, but I pretend not to hear him. 
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Posted: 12/16/2023 12:12:26 PM EDT
[#23]
Wife and I both retired after 20, many people we know went to sheriff’s departments, other police departments or some sort of security.
I became a teacher, she went to work for the G as a CORE. Although there ties when we missed the people, nothing called us back. |
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USA
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Posted: 12/16/2023 1:40:38 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By John-in-austin: Started contract work about 6 weeks after retiring, (doing background checks for recruiting and filing their FEMA and ICS training paperwork) but that really was work from home stuff and only lasted a year. Local sheriff has been dropping hints he needs a communications supervisor, but I pretend not to hear him. I considered that but F hours of the new 911 call center guy. You’re getting the overnight. No want. The other two options with the county if they like you are court transports which is an easy gig with more normal hours. The other is school resource for retired guys. Most hate it, one friend did it for three years before mutually agreeing with the school to not renew his contract. The feckless cowards in the schools want officers to solve their ordinary discipline problems all while undermining the effort at every turn. They block legitimate attempts to arrest criminal activity. Kids and admins can suck! No interest in dealing with the little shits. The only appealing part is single/divorced women on the prowl. 
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Posted: 12/26/2023 5:00:20 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By SteelonSteel: The other two options with the county if they like you are court transports which is an easy gig with more normal hours. My place brought back guys out of retirement by promising them an airport gig, a higher salary that the admins cut a month after they were hired back, and then the admins pulled the carpet out from the airport positions and turned them into transport officers for the jail while disarming the COs as punishment for not approving a contract. So basically, two divisions within the agency got screwed over. Then the CLEO had the audacity to go to the media and publicly complain that the officers didn't support him. |
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USA
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Posted: 12/26/2023 5:29:13 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tc556guy: My place brought back guys out of retirement by promising them an airport gig, a higher salary that the admins cut a month after they were hired back, and then the admins pulled the carpet out from the airport positions and turned them into transport officers for the jail while disarming the COs as punishment for not approving a contract. So basically, two divisions within the agency got screwed over. Then the CLEO had the audacity to go to the media and publicly complain that the officers didn't support him. Ha! The admins can do the transports themselves. The great thing about already having your retirement processed is you can just walk out the door while laughing at them. Anytime I had an employer played games with compensation and not living up to their word I walked. Not as easy in a government retirement path like it was in those private industry jobs. Then again if it was contractual you generally got it eventually. If it was off contract you were never going to get it. We had selective interpretation of what a recall was. One division got it as written. The other division that I worked played fuck fuck games wanting guys to self dispatch on an MOU and not pay the 4 hour recall. Many of the guys would say no if wasn’t a recall......if they answered their phone at all. Dispatchers were stuck in the middle trying to track down someone that would take an odd hour call that was still geographically able to do it. Supervisors were told to not authorize recalls.....so they quit answering off hour phone calls. I had a friend who is out on comp for a long time visit today. We were laughing about not missing the petty games of management trying to save a buck paying the guys while admins were raping the budget to fill out their own checks. Now I can sat Not my circus, not my monkeys. |
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Posted: 1/12/2024 1:08:18 AM EDT
[#27]
Go….back….?
Nope. No thanks. Thoroughly enjoyed it, was good at it, made good money, good pension, but the current political environment and leadership leaves a lot to be desired. Too many in leadership with no backbone, and nobody respects them as a result. Politically it is horrible. DA is a piece of work. Etc etc. Was asked if I wanted to put in for an Admin LT job at another agency…rather beat my head into a wall, though I appreciated the thought. Spend all my time dealing with meetings and office stuff, none on real LE work… no thanks. A buddy is running a state academy, but moved out of state to get the job. Not a bad retirement gig. I have more background in training, less in the higher ranks, so a nice 20 hr a week training job would be OK, but nobody pays enough for that to get me to wake up early. The only bad side of being one of the highest paid hourly employees is that nothing else compares well later. Doesn’t matter anyhow- too physically busted up to probably keep doing the job most likely. Barely scraped thru the last few years able to stay doing patrol supervision, training, crashes, riot duty, and swat, like I enjoyed. Going past age 50 was taken off the table when I nearly died in a crash, every minute of life past that is just a bonus. |
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Posted: 1/12/2024 1:55:07 AM EDT
[#28]
Never going back. Happy I made it out physically, mentally, and financially intact.
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KS, USA
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Posted: 1/12/2024 2:56:25 AM EDT
[#29]
I was out for two years
Got a call from my old agency Would I be interested in dispatching part time, 8 months later, phone rings You wanna go full time? Now the young guys are dealing with it I just give them directions |
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VA, USA
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Posted: 1/14/2024 5:37:05 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Yankee-Carpet-Bagger]
[#30]
To summarize what others have said in this thread...
I'm happy I made it out physically, mentally, and financially intact. Not trying to bum you out, but think of all the colleagues/friends that never made it to retirement, LODD, Cancer, Suicide, bad situations, and bad choices. Your job is to live as long as possible and collect a check in honor of those who didn't make it to the finish line. If I stayed, I would have made better $$$ and a bigger pension, but in hindsight, it was killing me. Take a deep breath and realize you've achieved the American dream, the ability to say... John Goodman - The Gambler (2004) |
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Posted: 1/22/2024 9:22:04 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By SteelonSteel: Ha! The admins can do the transports themselves. The great thing about already having your retirement processed is you can just walk out the door while laughing at them. Anytime I had an employer played games with compensation and not living up to their word I walked. Not as easy in a government retirement path like it was in those private industry jobs. Then again if it was contractual you generally got it eventually. If it was off contract you were never going to get it. We had selective interpretation of what a recall was. One division got it as written. The other division that I worked played fuck fuck games wanting guys to self dispatch on an MOU and not pay the 4 hour recall. Many of the guys would say no if wasn’t a recall......if they answered their phone at all. Dispatchers were stuck in the middle trying to track down someone that would take an odd hour call that was still geographically able to do it. Supervisors were told to not authorize recalls.....so they quit answering off hour phone calls. I had a friend who is out on comp for a long time visit today. We were laughing about not missing the petty games of management trying to save a buck paying the guys while admins were raping the budget to fill out their own checks. Now I can sat Not my circus, not my monkeys. I'm not sure why some admins are so quick to forget where they came from and what motivated them I'm hearing from my guys that the admins are offering a whopping half percent bump in pay in exchange for the union dropping their open grievance about the stuff I posted about earlier. A half a percent. Really? They must really be scared about what the arbitrator will eventually rule. My county was always stingy about raises, generally trying to keep annual raises to 2 %. There were years they wrangled multi-year contracts out of the older generation of guys with multiple 0 % raises over a 6 year contract. Accepting those kinds of contracts has just made it difficult for the follow-on contract negotiations in the 25-30 years since then. |
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Posted: 1/31/2024 10:24:56 PM EDT
[#32]
23 years, 6 months and some change and I was gone. Last working day was on a Friday and my new non sworn, non gun gov.org investigator job started the next Tuesday.
I had a lot of fun and did a lot of good while I was there but I wouldn't go back. I miss the guys but now I'm responsible for me, my wife and my kid, everyone else is on their own. I'm not on call, I'm not going to have to shoot someone, I'm not going to get shot, I'm not going to go to prison, I'm not going to loose everything, I'm goooood. I'm collecting my pension and I have a good job with a great boss and I'm working on a 2nd pension and I'm paying into Social Security. Ummmm, ya. I'm goood. |
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LA, USA
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Posted: 1/31/2024 10:44:46 PM EDT
[#33]
Two weeks.
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Posted: 2/4/2024 11:29:24 AM EDT
[#34]
31 years.....retired and started teaching armourer courses for a manufacturer who sells a lot to LE agencies. Have been doing it since (2019). My missing coppers banter was more than missing answer calls and dealing with internal garbage. I get to see the banter again every course I teach.
Mark |
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Posted: 2/5/2024 11:15:58 PM EDT
[#35]
I did 25 years, left my agency and came back to it five months later as a "Reserve" Officer. I have to volunteer a certain number of hours per month, but I can work pay jobs. I pick easy stuff and usually work one day a week.
It is like the cop halfway house. |
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AR, USA
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Posted: 2/24/2024 11:39:05 PM EDT
[#36]
Been out 5 and would rather dig ditches than go back.
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CA, USA
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Posted: 3/14/2024 7:21:42 PM EDT
[#37]
Originally Posted By CSIGunNut: So how many of you retired and were back in before the year was over? I'm just over one year out after 26 years. Nope, I am never going back and my blood pressure thanks me for that. I'd rather travel, do the hobbies the job didn't allow me to do, and enjoy every second because I worked too many weekends, holidays, weird hours, and took too many calls in the middle of the night. I do miss the action, miss my unit, and the area we covered. I believe I have one more fight in me, but it's a young person's game now. I had to walk away. We all have to do what is best for us and I believe all of us here have given so much of ourselves. I've known too many who worked long careers, retired, and then passed away within a year, sometimes months, one dude lasted three days. It's very sad so many of us don't get to live after we're done. Please take care of yourself and do what's best for you sir. Retire when you are ready and enjoy life. |
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Posted: 3/14/2024 7:56:57 PM EDT
[#38]
NOPE. Got out, staying out.
Covid response sealed the deal for me. |
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Posted: 3/19/2024 6:35:49 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By stpeteaustin: I did 25 years, left my agency and came back to it five months later as a "Reserve" Officer. I have to volunteer a certain number of hours per month, but I can work pay jobs. I pick easy stuff and usually work one day a week. It is like the cop halfway house. Haha! That’s what our department does. It’s like the unpaid national guard. Go to the police academy for 3 days and 1 day at the range to maintain your certification. You have to work 4 events a year. Pick one from list A, and 3 from list B. And maybe a mandatory event like the Super Bowl that didn’t count against your events. Miss that 1 required event and you’re out. Turn in your radio and other dept issued equipment. I did that for 12 years after I retired. Worked a good number of interesting jobs while in the reserves. And made a lot of money. I retired in 09 and did the reserves for 12 more years. The dreams about policing have slowed in the last 2 years. I miss some of the people, but not the bullshit meetings. If I was still working during those riots, I would have wound up at the dead end of Boulevard in Atlanta, in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. I’m too old (65) to go back now, even if I wanted to; plus, it made 0 financial sense for me to stay one day longer. The game is for the current players, not the former stars. |
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Posted: 3/19/2024 6:42:10 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By fergus556: After you leave the department forgets you. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/19/2024 6:44:00 PM EDT
[Last Edit: John-in-austin]
[#41]
Just a note, for those from larger depts, see if they have mentoring volunteers. Essentially, you go in and have a cup of coffee and chat with the rookies. In serious incidents you spend time keeping an eye on their family.
It still keeps you in the "club" so to speak and it's very satisfying. |
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Posted: 3/19/2024 9:22:07 PM EDT
[#42]
Did 30 and retired. Stayed as a reserve for a few years. I did outside sales of guns, body armor and munitions to LE and Military. Also, breaching and munitions training to SWAT teams. Was offered a Regional VP of LE / MIL sales position for a major firearms manufacturer. Thought hard, but it was going to take me away from home and back and forth overseas all the time. I declined it. NOT 1 REGRET. Mrs TB and I are traveling 3/4 of the year and spending time between here and the beach in P'cola.
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Posted: 3/22/2024 6:57:18 AM EDT
[#43]
Retired after 21 years and immediately started working in a rural elementary school as an SRO. A lot of turnover in school Admin, but I work for an excellent Sheriff. Great schedule, summer school is optional at time and a half. The biggest adjustment was the environment. From a Male dominated culture to one that is over 90% female, many of which have way more emotion than logic, run their mouths (not to your face, obviously) and don’t stay in their lanes. But the money has allowed me to help my kids enter the workforce without college debt.
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Posted: 3/23/2024 9:55:45 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Blue_Monkey]
[#44]
28 yrs in and I'm ready for another gig. Don't want to wear a uniform ever again. Who's hiring?
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MS, USA
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Posted: 4/18/2024 12:42:43 PM EDT
[#45]
I retired at 52 and went on an extended vacation with my wife on our boat. Two years later I came back and was looking around and I actually got a call from the head of one of our state agencies asking me if I wanted to come be an investigator. there I took the job, did it for three years, and resigned to go on another extended two year vacation on our boat again. After that, when we got back, I started doing contract investigative work, mostly for insurance companies.
Finally, I had enough of it all and am now happily retired with no intention of taking any other job, law enforcement or otherwise. |
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Posted: 4/27/2024 8:49:20 AM EDT
[#46]
About 6 years. Swore I was done then got talked into a School Police Officer position. Best thing I ever did. I got an elementary school and have never had a bad day yet. I was also very lucky to end up with a great Principal and teachers.
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FL, USA
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Posted: 4/30/2024 4:11:39 PM EDT
[Last Edit: srb10864]
[#47]
Retired to FL 5yrs ago after doing 23yrs and haven't worked since. What's wrong with you people? Why even retire if you're just going back to the same shit? Policing in America died in 2014, or whatever year the Mike Brown incident happened, so enjoy your retirement. The goal is maximizing the time between "retire and expire". Working until you basically die is just dumb.
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USA
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Posted: 5/4/2024 12:47:27 PM EDT
[#48]
Amen brother
It's tough especially those that chose the career that really wanted it , not cause it was a steady paycheck & did their jobs. Gotta enjoy life and not look back cause if ya did 25+yrs, father time is catching up |
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Posted: 5/23/2024 5:56:47 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tparker241: I took my oath seriously and the US Constitution seriously. Still do. To hell with anyone that has worn a uniform that does not. Thank you. We need guys like you. |
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Posted: 5/23/2024 6:26:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: piccolo]
[#50]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By turbolarry: I believe I have one more fight in me, but it's a young person's game now. I might have one more fight in me but maybe I used it up. Some of you guys know I'm a non LEO. I made my career as a mariner. Just before I turned 71 a shipmate almost slipped over the side. I caught him and damned near get him back into safety. Six months earlier I could have just horsed him back on board but this time I screamed for help and hung in there. Six months earlier I would have just hauled him back aboard, kicked him in the ass, cussed him out and that would have been the end of it. A few days later I turned 71 and pulled the pin at the end of the tour. I was hoping to last until I turned 75. ETA I can see how being a cop gets into your blood. I think that if I made my career as a working street cop I would leave the entire game after retirement and gone on to do something entirely non cop related. Retiring to be a mall cop or something like that would probably drive me to drink. |
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