Officer benefits need to change, Sgt. Wride's widow says


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SALT LAKE CITY — The murder of Utah County Sgt. Cory Wride exposed a fault with Utah's retirement plan for police officers, Wride's widow Nannette Wride said.

Rep. Paul Ray is stepping in to help Wride who is now struggling with the state over benefits.

Sgt. Cory Wride was killed on Jan. 30 during a traffic stop in Eagle Mountain.

“Up until just a couple of weeks ago, I was still in utter shock. I still thought maybe he still might come home,” Wride said.

Wride learned the state of Utah won’t honor his police retirement pension, and she'd be getting a death benefit instead. Plus, she’s losing her health coverage.

She pointed out the complicated breakdown and the conflicting statements in the state’s police pension plan. Had her husband reached 20 years of service, he could have retired and collected 50 percent of his salary for the rest of his life from the Utah retirement system. He had served 19 years and three months when he was killed. She discovered that her husband's years of law enforcement service would not factor in to her benefit.

As it stands, Wride’s family gets a one-time payment of $1,500. They also receive $1,863 per month, which is 37 percent of Wride’s salary, plus $50 per month for each minor child.

Wride said that next year it will cost $1,400 per month to continue her husband’s county health plan.

She doesn’t believe police officers across Utah realize this is a problem.

With the help of the KSL investigators, she met with Rep. Paul Ray, who was unaware of situations similar to this.

“I actually thought it was a lot more simple to handle, and I thought we were taking care of our officers,” said Ray. “Obviously, we’re not.”

The meeting with Ray yielded immediate results.

“I think you simplify it,” said Ray. “You simply state, number one, if an officer is killed in the line of duty, they’re considered retired.”

Sgt. Cory Wride
Sgt. Cory Wride (Photo: Wride Family Photo)

He is proposing families get 65 percent of their fallen officer’s salary. That would double the benefits for the Wride family. Ray also wants to increase that one-time payout of $1,500 to six months of salary and have the state pick up the family’s health premiums. If the law is changed, he proposes it would be retroactive to help the Wrides and other families in similar situations.

After the meeting, Ray wrote new legislation, and Wride said she will continue to advocate for Utah’s police families.

“I don’t want to have to see another family go through not only the loss and the grief and all of that, but to not be taken care of either,” she said. “That’s uncalled for. That’s not right.”

The federal government and private donations generally provide families with more financial benefits than the state plan that families of fallen officers had counted on, she explained. Wride believes officers sign up for the job in part because of the state pension plan, and benefits should be increaed when an officer is killed in action.

The Utah Fraternal Order of Police is also calling for change. The organization issued the following statement:

“On behalf of its over 2000 members, the Utah Fraternal Order of Police is grateful for the focus KSL News is bringing to the families of our fallen officers. The Utah FOP believes that those officers who give the final measure of sacrifice for their communities deserve to have their families reasonably supported. This is an issue that has broad community support for a common sense solution."

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Debbie Dujanovic

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