John Beatrice

I want to address the issue of the Rhode Island State Police Retirees Cola situation and give you a little background on what we all went through to earn our Cola.

When I joined the State Police in 1960, we worked 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, and had to sleep in a barracks, not allowed to be with our families.

We had two days off a week, if we were lucky, because if a situation occurred, we were not granted our days off.

We were not granted holiday pay or overtime pay, we just had to work the additional days and hours with no additional compensation.

We were at that time, one of the lowest-paid law enforcement agencies in the State, and one of the lowest-paid State Police agencies in the Country.

We served the State under these conditions to earn our 20-year pension and its benefits.

It is truly, very unfair for the State of Rhode Island to neglect us now when we need this Cola to keep up with the cost of living while we are in retirement.

We have been without it now for the past nine years.

No one has devoted themselves more to the State of Rhode Island, than the State Police and we should not be neglected now by our elected officials.

I hope you will make an effort to help us and restore our Cola, because it is dearly needed by most of us.

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