2016 NJ State PBA Convention – Phoenix, Arizona
Convention Retention
A recap of some of the highlights of the convention meetings…
Present Colors
On your side
Nobody supports law enforcement like law enforcement,
and the Arizona Department of Public Safety state police made
a great show of support with its honor guard presenting the
colors to start convention week.
The Arizona Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, featuring
retired Barnegat Township Local 296 member Mark Bernstein,
followed the honor guard’s lead and performed stirring renditions of “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.”
The performance set the tone for NJ State PBA President
Pat Colligan to ask for a moment of silence to remember three
Phoenix officers – one on his first day on the job – who were
injured when a man ran them over with his car. One of the
officers apprehended the driver targeting them, and he was
charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer.d
Planning for the future, and specifically for retirement, has
become more of a challenge for all law enforcement, so to provide assistance, the State PBA asked representatives from the
Nationwide Retirement Institute to address the convention.
Emanuel Mahand, a Certified Retirement Counselor and
Nationwide’s New Jersey Program Director, and consultant
Dave Harris presented some thoughts about a deferred compensation plan. Harris then delved into the options related to
“turning on” your social security benefits and how the longer
you wait to do so, the more income you will receive.
“At the end of the day, retirement is not about the assets,
it’s about the income,” Harris noted. “With life-expectancy increasing, it pays to see if you can wait until 66 or beyond to turn
on your social security benefits.”d
Three more years
President Colligan and Executive Vice-President Kovar won
re-election this past spring, and they were officially sworn in
for another three-year term at the convention. d
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