Former Pittsburgh police Sgt. Leo O'Neill is on the leading edge of what may be a wave of veteran cops -- as well as some newcomers -- leaving the city in large part for a brighter financial future.
O'Neill, who departed at age 47 in 2010 for the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office after 22 years with the city, makes about $77,000 a year as a lieutenant, is accruing pension benefits with the county and plans to start cashing city pension checks when he turns 50 next year.
"When the opportunity presented itself, I couldn't pass it up," O'Neill said. "Once you hit your time on the job (and become fully vested in the pension), there's not many incentives to stick around after that."
With at least half of the city force becoming eligible to retire by 2013, and younger officers leaving, there's concern among the police union and top brass about what the departures could do to the department in the next few years.
"Essentially, you're going to have this mass retirement, and you're not going to have enough veterans to replace them," said Dan O'Hara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1. "If you continue to lose the newer people, they never become the seasoned veterans. It's going to be a young, inexperienced department if it continues on this path."
In part, because of a surge in hiring between 1993 and 1995, about 500 officers will be eligible to leave with fully vested pensions by 2015, O'Hara said. The city had 877 police officers at the end of the year, and Pittsburgh police estimated about 400 are eligible to retire this year.
"These are our best people," O'Hara said. "They're seasoned veterans, and they're leaving, and what it comes down to is there is no benefit to stay once they can vest their pension."
In 2008, just four city officers left for other employment, according to a city termination report. In 2009, the number was eight. Since 2010, 22 officers have departed for other jobs, including Steve Mitrisin, a military veteran who left after about three years of work and joined Collier police, where first-year officers start at a salary $14,000 a year higher than Pittsburgh officers.
"Everybody wants to make good money and have a good retirement coming," Mitrisin said. "That was my biggest reason ? looking for a better life for my family and myself."
The issue of officers leaving after 20 years of service is something of an epidemic for larger American cities, said Maki Haberfeld, chairwoman of The Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
"Truly, at the 20th year, this is when they should be shifted to leadership and management positions," Haberfeld said. "And instead they leave -- and various supervisor positions are open to people with less experience. ... If you don't have experienced leadership, it can cause a host of problems ? discipline, integrity, effective deployment ? all things that police officers build in their experience over the years."
In Omaha, a change in pension benefits led to a "mass exodus" of officers between 2008 and 2010, said Samuel Walker, a professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who studies police issues. The result has been a department void of experienced leaders, he said.
"There is a pattern of officer misconduct, and that's, in part, a result of lack of experienced senior leadership," Walker said. "It can very much erode the quality of policing."
O'Neill, whose father and brother were city police officers, said he was happy with his time on the force. He worked in narcotics for nearly 20 years and left in 2010 as a sergeant in Zone 6 when he had the chance to become a lieutenant in the sheriff's office.
"There never seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel with the city," O'Neill said. "That always seems like the sentiment."
From his post in the courthouse, he sees many of his former colleagues when they come to court.
"A lot of guys in my time frame are all taking tests and trying to get out," O'Neill said. "There's a ton of people looking."
Pittsburgh police will increase recruitment and "strategically plan to lessen the impact on the police force of people who are retiring," Chief Nate Harper said in a statement released by spokeswoman Diane Richard.
"There will always be a concern as we seek to train and maintain the best officers," the statement said. "However, we cannot stop a member of the bureau from making personal choices that may dictate a better living situation for that officer and his/her families."
Pittsburgh police officers make $40,896 in their first year, according to 2012 figures. Fourth-year officers get $58,419.
First-year sheriff's deputies make $30,582 and top out at $69,670 after five years. Lieutenants get about $77,000. Sheriff William P. Mullen said about 400 people took the test to become sheriff's deputies in December, and he estimated about 75 were Pittsburgh police officers.
Eighty people have applied for positions with Ross police, which held a test for prospective officers on Saturday. Nine of the 14 officers Ross police have hired since 2008 have Pittsburgh police experience, Ross Detective Brian Kohlhepp said. Ross officers start at $53,297 and top out at $76,139 after five years.
Eight of the 24 people whom Allegheny County police hired since 2008 were former Pittsburgh police officers, Superintendent Charles Moffatt said. The county does not recruit city officers; the job interest is there, Moffatt said. Starting salary for a county officer is about $46,000, but officers reach the top pay level of $69,975 after just 18 months of service.
"They're well-trained," Moffatt said of city officers. "They have actual street experience, and they can more or less hit the ground running after a short field training experience with us."
Collier Township pays first-year officers about $54,900. They reach the top pay of $73,236 after five years on patrol. Mitrisin, who worked out of the Zone 2 station in the Hill District for about three years, said he tested with Cranberry, Ross and Collier police before taking the job in Collier.
"A lot of guys will tell you the city is the best place to work," Mitrisin said. "They love the action. It just depends on the person. I got enough of it in Iraq. I didn't hate it, but when you sit back and say you can make a lot more money in the suburbs and not deal with what you're dealing with there, why not?"
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