January 29, 1981
Subject:
Retirement; Law Enforcement Officers; Right to Badge on Disability Retirement.
Requested By:
Robert F. Thomas, Jr. Police Attorney City of Charlotte
Question:
Does G.S. § 20-187.2(a) require law enforcement agencies to give an officer retiring upon disability retirement, with less than 20 years creditable service or only with 5 years creditable service, the badge worn by the officer?
Conclusion:
Yes.
North Carolina General Statutes § 20-187.2(a) requires a state, city, or county law enforcement agency to give "retiring members of such agencies" at no cost and at their request the badge worn or carried by such retiring member. The statute does not in any way define the term "retiring member." Nor is there any reference to any other provision for determining who is a "retiring member" within the meaning of that statute.
State employed law enforcement officers may be members of the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System or the Law Enforcement Officers’ Benefit and Retirement Fund. Local law enforcement officers may be members of the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System, if the employing unit participates in the Local System, of the Law Enforcement Officers’ Benefit and Retirement Fund, or, where available, of a local pension plan or retirement system for the employees of the local governmental unit or specifically for police officers. Under all three state-operated systems, a member in service may retire on a disability retirement allowance if he or she is under the normal retirement age, has at least five years of creditable service, and can establish a disability within the meaning of the relevant statutory provisions. See G.S. §§ 128-27(c), (d3); 135-5(c), (d3); 143-166(y). Thus, a person may retire on disability retirement at an early age with only five years of creditable service. While service retirement is usually thought of as something occurring after years of service, it is possible to retire at normal retirement age with less than five years of service if a person is hired at a later age.
The question has been asked whether a law enforcement agency must, if requested to do so by the officer, provide an officer’s badge to him at no cost when he retires on disability retirement with less than twenty years creditable service. Although twenty years has no special significance in any of the state-administered retirement systems, twenty years of creditable service was required for normal service retirement from the Law Enforcement Officers’ Benefit and Retirement Fund in 1971, the time that the first version of G.S. § 20-187.2(a) was enacted. It may well be that the General Assembly had in mind the rewarding of retiring officers who have given long years of service to the law enforcement agencies by which they were employed. However, the statutory provisions simply refer to a "retiring member" with no definition or no limitation to service retirement. Twenty years does not have any significance now even for the Law Enforcement Officers’ Benefit and Retirement Fund. While most officers do prefer the Law Enforcement Officers’ Benefit and Retirement Fund, there are two other state-administered retirement systems to which some law enforcement officers belong and a number of local pension plans for retirement systems to which others may belong. The statute does not refer to any retirement system or to any type of retirement. Under these circumstances, the language must be interpreted as written to apply to any "retiring member", including those retiring on disability retirement. Since disability retirement is just as much retirement as service retirement, there is no way to exclude persons retiring on disability retirement from the right to receive their badges under G.S. § 20-187.2(a).
Rufus L. Edmisten Attorney General
Norma S. Harrell Assistant Attorney General