An Empirical Examination of Retired Police Officers’ Length of Retirement and Age at Death

Abstract

The purpose of this research note was to compare Detroit police officers with other City of Detroit employees in terms of the length of their retirements and the age at which they die. Data on retired and deceased police officers and other city employees were obtained from the City of Detroit ( N = 7,325). Ordinary least squares regression equations were estimated using age at death and length of retirement as dependent variables. The results show that retired officers die significantly younger than other retired city employees and that officers have significantly shorter retirements prior to death than other city employees. Given the limitations of the data analyzed here, the reasons for the differences among retired police officers and other retired workers with regard to mortality largely remain speculative. However, the findings suggest that additional attention to health concerns and issues among current and retired officers may be warranted in policy as well as in research.