Minnesota police officers began leaving their jobs in droves in 2020 — after George Floyd’s killing by police — with many retiring early due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Since then, more than 1,000 Minnesota police and firefighters have retired early due to a disability like PTSD — about as many as in the prior four decades.

To try to stem the tide, state lawmakers invested $100 million in 2023 to pay for mental health treatment for emergency responders that they would be required to undergo before retiring. The money was set aside to reimburse cities and counties for the treatment and workers’ salaries, benefits and health insurance while they undergo treatment for up to 32 weeks. The fund is also used to reimburse local governments for health insurance they must provide employees who retire early due to disabilities.

The hope was that many would return to work afterward.

They aren’t. Since the program began three years ago, 337 emergency responders have gone through with mental health treatment. Out of those, just 17, or 5%, have returned to work, according to the state Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), which administers the police and fire retirement plan. Nearly half — 158 — completed the treatment and then retired anyway. About 100 are still in treatment.

“That’s not a good return on investment,” said Rep. Terry Stier, a Republican from Belle Plaine, where he is the police chief. “The fund is draining.”

Stier chairs a work group that’s trying to fix the system, which he contends is plagued by fraud, arguing that some officers claim they have PTSD just so they can retire early because they don’t like the job or are facing discipline or termination.

But state officials say it’s nearly impossible to deny disability coverage if a medical professional signs off on a PTSD claim.

Police and firefighters who retire early due to a disability get at least 60% of their salary tax-free for five years, or until they turn 55, when their disability retirement converts to a regular retirement.

After the mass exodus of police officers in 2020, some officers saw an opportunity to get a “golden ticket” and retire early, Stier said.

“That’s where I believe the fraud exists,” Stier said in an interview. “I don’t think everybody’s doing it fraudulently. I think there’s some.”

Stier said he wants to make sure the state is taking care of people who need it, not those who are just “looking for a way out.”

Stier’s blunt assessment doesn’t sit well with some of his brothers in blue like Chris Steward, a retired Minneapolis police sergeant who spent most of his career working in north Minneapolis before leaving due to PTSD after 14 years.

Steward created a nonprofit called Heroes Helping Heroes to help police cope with PTSD. The Republican is also running for the state House in District 54B, in the Prior Lake area.

Steward disagreed that cops are “faking it,” and claimed Stier is using the work group to “push his personal feelings about people with PTSD.”

Because Stier chairs the work group, Steward said, “those allegations hold a lot of weight.”

But Stier and Steward agreed on one thing: the $100 million mental health treatment program isn’t working. The fund is expected to have $41 million left by year’s end, and be depleted by the end of 2027.

The official in charge of administering the PERA fund agreed the treatment isn’t working.

“I think there was an expectation that the treatment program would be more effective at having people go back to work than it is,” said Doug Anderson, executive director of the state police and fire pension fund.

Stier has been in law enforcement for over 23 years, and said it used to be that officers tried to make it to age 55 and then retire. But that’s changed.

So far this fiscal year, about 80% of the people retiring early due to a disability are claiming psychological disabilities, PERA policy coordinator Amy Strenge, told the work group.

Minnesota’s disability rates are higher than most neighboring states; almost twice as high in some cases, Anderson said.

To claim disability due to PTSD, an applicant must have a doctor — plus either another doctor or a psychiatrist, psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse or chiropractor — say the person can’t do the job due to PTSD. Virtually all applications are approved by PERA

Brian Rice, a lobbyist for firefighters, said the state may have inadvertently incentivized people to claim PTSD, retire early and get free health insurance and a pension — sometimes just a few years into the job. Giving pensions to officers who’ve worked on the job for three years is going to “bankrupt this fund,” Rice said during a work group meeting.

Stier has proposed that mental health retirements be vetted by a review panel made up of “a bunch of chiefs and sheriffs” to weed out cases like “the one-year guy who gets a PTSD claim for seeing a dead body.”

Steward said that’s a “horrible idea” because sheriffs and chiefs are an extension of cities and counties. He said all reviews should be done by doctors and licensed professionals, not lobbyist organizations or special interest groups.

“This is pretty common sense,” he said. “Medical professionals, or experts in their fields, should be the one deciding diagnosis and treatment.”

Stier said he believes some officers claim they have PTSD and retire early because they can also get health insurance longer. Those who retire without a disability don’t get employer-paid health insurance.

He said some officers retire with a disability at age 54 just to get health insurance.

“Did we move the carrot and give somebody an out?” he said.

The work group — which will make recommendations to lawmakers in the next session — is considering addressing that equity issue and removing an incentive to retire early. They’re looking at the State Patrol Retirement Plan, which provides troopers with health insurance through age 65, and hasn’t seen a similar spike in disability retirements, Stier said.

Rice said Stier is a stand-up legislator who’s always been willing to take on tough issues. Stier is unfazed by the criticism, which he said is coming “from just about every side.”

“I’m hard to influence, and I’m hard to intimidate,” he said. “The working groups, in my opinion, have been intimidated by outside people for years, and they shouldn’t be intimidated. I mean, we need to work together to find a solution.”

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