Fox Lake Board to Decide Pension Benefits for Gliniewicz Family

Photo credit: WGN TV

The Fox Lake’s Police Pension Board is tasked with deciding what type of benefits the widow of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz will receive.

As police continue to investigate the cause of the shooting death of Gliniewicz, who was found dead shortly after he radioed police to say he was pursuing three suspects on Sept. 1, the pension board will have to decide if Gliniewicz’s widow is entitled to the larger benefits providing to spouses of officers killed in the line of duty, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Spouses of officers killed in the line of duty can receive a pension that is equal to 100 percent of the officer’s salary and the spouses and children are eligible for free health insurance, the newspaper reports. Children can receive free tuition at state-supported colleges and the state and federal government give lump-sum benefits worth several hundred thousand dollars to survivors.

Richard Reimer, a Hinsdale attorney who specializes in pension law and a former police officer, told the Chicago Tribune a ruling of suicide, for example, could significantly decrease the benefits allocated to survivors.

The pension board consists of two police officers, one retired police officer and two mayoral appointees and is expected to hold a hearing on the benefits as soon as all the necessary paperwork is submitted and the pension board attorney returns from out of town, according to the article.

Read more on the Chicago Tribune.

Read More on Patch:

• ‘Joe Was My Best Friend, My Hero ... The Love of My Life,’ says Widow of Slain Officer