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From Lexipol: "The empty feeling is what surprised me the most," says a former New Mexico State Police officer now working in public safety media. "I truly felt as if I had lost my identity." Pierce is hardly alone. Many public safety employees experience a type of identity crisis when they leave the job.

The academic research confirms this is a documented phenomenon: when police officers retire, they transition to civilian life and can lose their identity and well-being. Loss of authority, uniform, and badge are linked to loss of identity. Loss of identity can mean loss of status and family, with feelings of rejection and grief.

The Mental and Physical Health Realities

One critical factor that often goes unspoken about law enforcement retirement: the highest rate of suicide among law enforcement officers occurs in the time leading up to retirement. This underscores the importance of agencies taking proactive steps to assist officers as they prepare to transition out.

Research shows elevated rates of depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation among active and retired first responders. In recent years, more officers have died by suicide than in the line of duty. Depression, anxiety, sleep disruption, and cognitive changes often surface after the structure of the job disappears.

 

If you are considering suicide, click 988 Lifeline
Free, confidential, 24/7/365.

The Very Powerful Pension Trap No One Wants to Talk About

The pension trap is real and worth addressing honestly: the math is simple. In Chicago, 20 years earn a pension worth 50% of salary for life. Twenty-nine years and a day earns 75%. That gap — 25% — keeps mentally exhausted officers on the street for nearly a decade past their breaking point. It's not just Chicago - it's nearly everywhere. Heard of the DROP Plan, AKA Deferred Retirement Option Plan? Stay 5 years, collect a salary AND a tax-free pension? Sounds great, except those just might turn out to be the hardest 5-years of your life. Closely consider your finances, but also your health and future, before you sign up for DROP.

The physical health dimension cannot be ignored either. Officers are older by the time retirement arrives, carrying decades of stress, exposure, and injury. The final five years before retirement are often the most physically demanding and medically consequential — the last realistic window to identify and address health issues while income, insurance, and access to care remain stable.

The Fire Service Comparison — Why Can't Police Copy This Model?

The research confirms the structural advantage fire service personnel have in building second careers and early retirement options that law enforcement does not typically leverage.

The schedule is the advantage: a recent study found that 61% of firefighters work a second job. The 24-on, 48-off schedule leaves a lot of weekday hours most workers never get, so firefighters often work side jobs.

They use their two days off after each shift for daytime work — often with skills they already have, like the trades, fitness, or emergency medicine. The schedule is the advantage: blocks of weekday time when the rest of the world is open for business.

From FireRescue1: one of the most desirable aspects of working as a firefighter is the scheduling — working 12 or 24 hours on and having consecutive days off means firefighters have a nice chunk of time away from work. Often, tacking on a second job to fill off-time makes sense. This is not reluctant moonlighting — it is a structural feature of fire service culture that law enforcement has not traditionally embraced to the same degree.

The entrepreneur pathway from fire service is well-documented:
Firefighter turned entrepreneur Peter Thorpe invented FireAvert, a fire safety product, generating over $2 million in revenue.

Two Michigan paramedic-firefighters, Gavin DuBetz and Stephanie Viener, took their side training work to an entrepreneurial level, opening CrossFit Menace.

Starter Story documents 35 business categories that fire service personnel have turned into sustainable enterprises.

The financial sophistication among fire service entrepreneurs is equally notable. Fire service entrepreneurs are encouraged to use Solo 401(k)s and SEP IRAs to invest side income for retirement — often building nest eggs that dwarf their pension alone. With the right setup, side-job cash can fuel retirement beyond the standard pension.

There is a successful Florida roofing company created and staffed almost entirely by off-duty and retired fire service personnel, some of whom took early retirement specifically to work in the business full-time. It illustrates every key point: the schedule advantage, the culture of off-duty enterprise, the planning that went into it, and the dignified, purposeful exit from a public safety career into something personally fulfilling and financially rewarding.

Some departments have transitioned to a 12 hour day, followed by 48-hours off, or similar models of extended work hours followed by multiple days off. 5-on-2-off and even the 4-day-10-hour model are now seldom seen, especially in large agencies with enough personnel to cover all contingencies.

Does this bring hope for police entrepreneurship to match the Fire Department model? Maybe.

What would it look like if police officers approached their careers with the same entrepreneurial intentionality that fire service personnel bring to theirs? The schedules are different, but the principle — start something on the side, build it while you still have a steady income and benefits, and give yourself options — is completely transferable.

The research from Southern New Hampshire University frames it well: retirement allows the freedom to pursue something that you might have put off during your police career, and now you find time and some steady retirement money to chase that next dream.

The best second careers for retired officers match their transferable skills while offering something new:
reduced stress
more schedule control
more family time
better physical manageability
increased entrepreneurial freedom.

The research-backed categories most suited to law enforcement retirees include:
security management and consulting
private investigation
compliance and risk management
teaching and training (criminal justice academia or police academies)
corporate security
and the most challenging and fulfilling of all - starting their own business, and being their own boss.

The "No Shame" Message

The point here is permission — your permission to leave on your own terms, at a time that is right for you, without stigma. You don't need anyone else's permission. Sure, speak to your family and friends - but what is in your heart is the voice you must seek out. Listen to it.

The retired Chicago officer's reflection says it most powerfully: "I've realized that the other end of the watch doesn't have to be an ending. I spent 20 years learning how the world breaks. Now I teach the next generation how to repair it without breaking themselves. For the first time in a long time, I am not tired anymore."

And from the Next Shift Academy founder, Jess Flores, who left law enforcement due to injury: "My biggest piece of advice for every officer is to prepare today for what could happen tomorrow. Your career isn't guaranteed, now more than ever."

Law Enforcement is a great profession, offers exceptional personal and professional challenges, fantastic bonds of friendship and camaraderie, and overall, a great life. But don't hold on to it after you know the time has passed.

When I asked, a personal friend of mine from a different South Florida police agency told me at his retirement party why he chose to retire on the very first day he was eligible: "The bloom was off the rose."

Your health, your family, your SANITY, must come first. Plan NOW for the day you know will be here much sooner than you think.

Articles to further understand this topic;
Police1 — 7 Steps for Police Retirement
Police1 — The Next Shift Founder on Life After Law Enforcement
Police1 — Five Years Out: Retirement Health Prep
Police1 — From Police Officer to Civilian
Lexipol — Emotional and Financial Challenges for Retired Officers
Yahoo/Marshall Project — The Moment My Cop Career Was Over
Waldenu.edu — Role Identity and Police Retirement
SNHU — Jobs for Retired Police Officers
Trade Schools — Retired Police Second Careers
Shoeboxed — Firefighter Side Jobs & Schedule Advantage
FireRescue1 — Side Jobs for Firefighters
Protection Red — Firefighter Side Business Retirement Strategy
Starter Story — Firefighter Business Ideas
Side Hustle Nation — Firefighter Side Hustles

Master list of articles and resources: from PolicePromotion.net