Does serving in the military count towards civilian police retirement?

Are there any cities where serving in the military as a cop will count for some of your years as a civilian cop? What are most civilian cop's receiving for their retirement and when are they allowed to start receiving it? Thank you!

Public Comments

1. i dont think so, civilian police are state, while military is federal, now military service does help in getting employment
2. You can switch from the military to being a cop, fireman, etc (pretty much any governement job) and retire at the 20 year mark. I know of several people that have done this in GA. As far as other states...I would think it would be the same thing but you might want to check with the police dept you are interested in to see if it's the same there. Also some states let you take whatever your military rank is and keep that same rank when you are hired as a cop.
3. I know you can do this in AZ. If you spent 4 years on active duty (or any amount of time) then went in to the police force you could retire at 20 years but you would have to "buy" your 4 years of retirement from the police department. Basically you would spend a little out of your pay every month buying missed time towards your retirement. Any police recruiter in AZ and many other states will be able to explain this to you since many cops are prior service.
4. You'll have to check with the department you will work for. Retirement packages vary from department to department. As far as counting your military time, some departments allow you to "buy" your military time and put it toward the time you need to retire. Again, this is something that varies with departments. If you ask cops from ten different departments, you could get ten different answers as to how it works.
5. It is up to the individual union, department or retirement system in California. Here we can back back our time. For instance. As a firefighter I can buy back my 5 years of active duty and get my full retirement from the department after 25 years instead of 30. This is through CALPERS who is responsible for our retirement. The price varies from year to year, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down, but you can wait as long as you want to buy it back, so you can save up for it if you really wanted to. The police in my city have a very similiar retirement to mine, so I imagine that it's pretty common.