Life Insurance policies for police officers explained

If you're a cop or a first responder, you've probably already realized that you work in a
dangerous field.

Every shift you are out there protecting the citizens of your community, there is always
the possibility that you will be injured or, in the worst-case scenario, will never return home.

Knowing this, you must take the necessary precautions to ensure that your surviving
loved ones will have the financial resources to carry on if you do not return home.

Many police officers and first responders believe that insurance companies prefer not to
insure them. Still, the good news is that insurance companies understand the risk and will compete for your business.

To put it bluntly, car accidents kill far more people each year than police officers die
on the job. Finding low-cost life insurance as a police officer is surprisingly simple.

Why Is Life Insurance Essential for Police Officers?

Let us begin with a significant and verified statistic from the Officer Down Memorial Page (odmp.org). In 2020, 359 police officers were killed in the line of duty, of which 332 were men and 27 were women.

Now, compare those figures to the number of people who died in a car accident in 2020, 1.36. Indeed, many of the accident victims were police officers, but you'll understand one risk compared to the other.

Whether a police officer dies while on duty protecting the public, as a result of a disease, or in an unrelated job accident, they must have life insurance so that their loved ones are not financially devastated in the event of a loss.

The dangers that police officers face on the job are greater than those that the average employed person faces:

Responding to Traffic Collisions

Officers in the traffic division spend the majority of their time on highways, county
roads, or city streets that they are. This certainly puts them at risk when assisting at a roadside collision or dealing with an offender who attempts to escape in a vehicle.

Workplace Accidental shootings

Because a police officer has been trained and authorized to carry a weapon, being on duty or off duty exposes them to being shot at by a perpetrator or even friendly fire as a result of a crossfire situation.

Responding as First Responders

It is not uncommon for a police officer to be assigned the role of the first responder. 

Whether a bank heist is taking place or a bridge is crumbling, police officers will aid other first responders by becoming involved in an investigation or canvassing a neighborhood to gather facts and evidence. 

The risk is inherent in the job, and loved ones must be financially protected.

Are police officers considered high risk?

Being a police officer requires the officer to work in various circumstances during their career.

After working as a vice officer for several years, an officer may be assigned as a school resource officer. 

When an officer is hired after graduating from the academy, they, like a military member, will likely be assigned to several departments or divisions

However, when we consider the previously given figures and the overall risk of being a police officer, insurance firms understand that, while police officers do assume risks on the job, most insurance companies don't deem the vocation high-risk.

Are the Life Insurance Policies Provided through Work Enough for Police Officers?

No, in a nutshell. Unless the cop is a single man with no children, although employer-sponsored life insurance is an excellent benefit, it will not meet the financial needs of
your surviving loved ones if that is the only life insurance an officer has.

Employer-sponsored life insurance has three major disadvantages:

• The death benefit is often limited to a multiple of an officer's yearly salary, which in many situations is insufficient to replace the deceased officer's wage for more
  than a few years.
  
  
• Most department or union life insurance policies provide a smaller benefit if the officer dies while off duty.
  
  
• An employer-sponsored life insurance policy, in general, is not transferrable.
  This implies that when the officer leaves (most can after 20 years), the coverage does not follow.

How Much Life Insurance Do Police Officers Require?

Suppose an officer has a family, which most do. In that case, the objective of their life
insurance coverage will be to replace the officer's income so that surviving family members can continue to live financially following the officer's death.

Buying a multiple of your annual wage is not enough to replace your income. When
calculating the death benefit required to replace an officer's salary (especially if they are the lone breadwinner in the household), keep the following financial commitments in mind:

• Annual living expenses for the remaining family
  
  
• The mortgage balance on the family home, if any.
  
  
• Personal debts.
  
  
• The expected cost of college tuition for any children in the family.
  
  
• Estimated contributions needed for a spouse's retirement fund.
  
  
• The projected cost of the funeral and burial service.

Over the years, we've discovered that the projected replacement income is almost always significantly more than a multiple of three or four times an officer's annual compensation.