”Police chief” means the head of the department only and does not extend to deputies, assistants, etc. Rules for police chiefs vary, depending upon the governmental unit employing them and whether or not they are eligible to join a police pension fund. The rules are set forth under each group.
Certain chiefs of police may choose to participate in IMRF as Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Plan (SLEP) or in their local police pension plan. This option is available only to appointed police chiefs of cities, towns and villages that have:
Already established a police pension fund, or
Just formed a new police pension plan.
The election to join the SLEP plan or the police pension fund, or to join neither SLEP nor the police pension fund, is a decision the police chief must make within the first three months of his or her appointment to the position, or within three months of the formation of the new police pension fund. Police chiefs who first become a participating employee on or after January 1, 2019 are prohibited from opting into IMRF SLEP as police chief.
If a police chief elects to participate in IMRF’s SLEP plan, he or she may transfer police service previously established in any Illinois police pension fund to IMRF. The service transferred in would also be recognized as SLEP service credit. (Please refer to Paragraph 6.40.12.)
Also, once a police chief elects to participate in IMRF’s SLEP plan, that decision may not be revoked. As long as he or she performs police duties for any IMRF employer, the employee will be required to participate in the SLEP plan. Before the police chief makes a final decision, he or she should review and evaluate the benefits of the police fund and the SLEP plan to determine which plan is most advantageous.
If the police chief decide to join neither the IMRF SLEP plan nor the police pension fund, he or she will not be able to join SLEP at a later date as a police chief.
Social Security coverage for a police chief opting into SLEP remains the same as if the chief was in the police pension plan. Police chiefs electing to participate in IMRF as SLEP members are not covered by Social Security unless they are employed by a governmental unit classified under Group 4. Please refer to Paragraph 3.80B for the names of the governmental units classified under Group 4.
The following police chiefs are not entitled to become SLEP members:
Police chiefs with IMRF municipalities that have no local police pension plan and are not required by law to form one (under 5,000 population).
Police chiefs with IMRF municipalities that have a police pension plan, but the chief chose not to enroll in the police pension plan, and did not enroll in SLEP within the first three months of employment.
Police chiefs with municipalities that do not participate in IMRF.
Acting, temporary, interim, deputy or any position other than an appointed police chief.
Former police chiefs are prohibited from participating in IMRF after earning a pension from the same municipality in an Article 3 pension fund and then returning to the same municipality as a police advisor or in another, similar position, provided that:
the municipality has an Article 3 police pension fund.
the former police chief participated in that Article 3 fund and participated as a police chief.
the former police chief first earned IMRF service credit on or after August 26, 2018 . The former police cannot have earned IMRF service credit with any IMRF employer in any capacity.