BOSTON — The Violently Injured Police Officers Organization (V.I.P.O.), is thrilled to announce that, after more than a decade of advocacy, the Massachusetts Legislature has today passed V.I.P.O.’s model legislation to protect the wellbeing of police officers and other first responders who are shot, attacked or otherwise violently injured in the line of duty.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate approved the bill on Wednesday, July 24. The bill, Massachusetts House Bill 4746, “An Act relative to disability pensions and critical incident stress management for violent crimes,” now goes to Gov. Maura Healy’s desk.
As it currently stands, police officers who are forced to retire due to serious injuries receive only a portion of their regular pay and are often prohibited from earning extra income to make ends meet. Death benefits for police officers are typically much more substantial, creating a disincentive for officers to survive if seriously injured.
“If you die in the line of duty, your family gets a significant payout from the federal government, tax-free, along with state benefits, but if survive you get a little more than half of your previous paycheck and you’re sent home. Your living is taken away because you had the good fortunate of not dying,” said retired Somerville Police Officer Mario Oliveira, a V.I.P.O. cofounder. “In Massachusetts, a cop shot in the line of duty is worth more dead than alive, and that is wrong.”
V.I.P.O. created model legislation for states that would ensure officers who are permanently disabled as a result of violent assaults are able to receive 100 percent of their pay until they reach retirement age, as well as continued coverage from the health insurance they received as officers. The model bills also seek to remove limits on how much income permanently disabled officers are able to receive from other jobs they are still able to perform, said Jonathan Stackhouse, V.I.P.O. Secretary and current Acton Police Detective.
V.I.P.O.’s model legislation was first filed in Massachusetts in 2014.
The bill passed the Massachusetts Senate unanimously today with 40 yeas, zero nays and zero abstentions. The bill was sponsored in the house by Rep. Jessica Giannino, Rep. Steven Xiarhos, Rep. Alan Silvia, Rep. Paul McMurtry, Rep. Mathew Muratore, Rep. Jeffrey Turco, Rep. James Arena-DeRosa, Rep. Carole Fiola, Rep. Michael Soter, Rep. Marcus Vaughn. The bill had broad bipartisan support and was sponsored by Sen. Lydia Edwards, a Democrat and supported by Republican minority leader Sen. Bruce Tarr.
“This has been a remarkable, stressful and at times frustrating journey, but it is worth it after all these years to know that no other police officer or their family will have to ensure that V.I.P.O.’s members have gone through,” Oliveira
Co-founded by former Somerville Police Officer Mario Oliveira and former Woburn Police Officer Bob DeNapoli, both of whom were forced to retire after being shot and seriously injured in violent incidents, V.I.P.O. is committed to helping to ensure that violently injured police officers across the country receive adequate compensation and support.
To learn more about the Violently Injured Police Officers Organization, visit: https://vipo911.org/.
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