Average life span of a police officer?

Answer 1

The old school of thought stuck to the age of 59 as an average lifespan for an officer.

However, newer studies have shown that the post retirement lifespan of an officer is about the same as everyone else. It is showing that male officers that retire at the age of 60 live about another 22 years on average. It is another 25 years for female officers.

Answer 2

The average life span of a police officer is around 57 years, according to a study conducted by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Factors such as stress, lifestyle, and exposure to danger can contribute to a shorter life expectancy in this profession.

Answer 3

"The average life span of a police officer is about 57 years. The average life span for the general population is about 78." While this is often heralded as fact, indications from research studies indicate that police officers will live to about the same age of a person who is not a police officer.

Often these numbers are cited with no references or research to substantiate them, it would the the same as saying, "Statistical studies indicate the sky is yellow." Easy enough to say but no one every substantiates it with any research or information.

Here is what I have discovered:

"CalPERS of course has to figure out actuarily how long their employees are expected to live in order to calculate retirement formulas and how much and for how long they will have to pay to retirees. Their findings pretty much debunk this myth once and for all as they find absolutely no difference in the life expectancy of miscellaneous members versus public safety officials."

http://davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2977:calpers-debunks-myth-of-shorter-life-expectancy-for-safety-employees&Itemid=79

Perhaps the most important outcome of this initial study of longevity is that evidence suggests police are living longer not shorter than the population as a whole.

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/pr/109485.pdf

Discusses the 2004 CALPERS study, ". . .according to the state of California pubic employees' retirement system (CalPERS) actuary, police actually live longer than average these days, which isn't surprising given that the earlier people retire and the wealthier they are, the longer they tend to live."

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001145-police-pensions-and-voodoo-actuarials

Answer 4

No one really knows, because of the lack of hard data. State pension funds may know the average age of people receiving retirement benefits when they die, but they either regard the information as confidential or don't separate out law enforcers from other public employees. Some law officers leave law enforcement before they are eligible for a pension, and their representation is lost to a retirement system.

Anecdotally, it appears that cops don't live as long as people in other professions, although there are a lot of variables. Most career officers can list names of fellow cops who retired and died shortly thereafter, but each case is unique. Did the officer have some health problem that caused his retirement, and later his death? Did the officer retire in good health, and then suffered a fatal stroke, heart attack or onset of fatal disease like cancer shortly after retirement?

One metric that has come to light in recent years is that two to six times as many law enforcement officers commit suicide as die from traditional line-of-duty causes. One's profession is seldom listed as a contributing cause in suicide, so this data is lost or incomplete.

The present generation of law enforcement officers will probably live longer than those who went before them. Today's officers are better educated about psychological stress and the diseases it promotes, and they generally have healthier lifestyles. Obesity, substance abuse, and poor lifestyle habits are still a problem, but the cop of today is less likely than previous generations to have these issues.