Credited service is classified as Allowable Police Service or Other Credited Service.

Allowable Police Service
Twenty (20) years of Allowable Police Service are required for Service Retirement.
It includes:

• All member service rendered by you as a uniformed member of the New York  City Police Department.
  
  
• New York City Employees’ Retirement System Uniformed Force service (includes uniformed service in the Housing Police Department, Transit Police Department, Department of Correction, Sanitation Department and Emergency Medical Technician [EMT] time) rendered by you immediately preceding your appointment as a uniformed member of the New York City Police Department, provided you applied for such credited service within prescribed time limits and such credited service was properly transferred to the Police Pension Fund.
  
  
• Credit for service rendered in the uniformed force of the New York City Fire Department, provided you applied for such credited service within prescribed time limits and such credited service was properly transferred to the Police Pension Fund.
  
  
• Credit for any service rendered while a member of the New York State  Employees’ Retirement System or New York State Police and Fire Retirement System, provided you applied for such credited service within prescribed time limits and such credited service was properly transferred to the Police Pension Fund. (New York State Teachers’ Retirement System is considered as “other credited service” if purchased under Chapter 646.)
  
  
• You may be entitled to receive up to five (5) years of credited service for  military service provided you were a member of a city retirement system at the time you entered military service and you immediately returned to city service upon discharge from the military. Upon request, the Police Pension Fund will provide you with information about other circumstances under which you may be eligible for military service credit.
  
  

• Chapter 41 of the Laws of 2016 which amends New York State Retirement and Social Security Law (“RSSL”) §1000 (also known as a “Chapter 548 buyback”) removes the specified periods of time, medal requirements, and theaters of operation in which military service would have to have been rendered for a service purchase. Members need only have been honorably discharged from the military to be eligible to purchase pre-membership service credit pursuant to RSSL §1000. This law is not retroactive and does not permit retired members to purchase service credit. For further information please click here. (this link should take the user to the location linked in the pension alert).
• Under Chapter 606 of the Laws of 2000, members may purchase up to four  (4)   years of combined military service and service as a police officer in a foreign country for the United States Government. 
  
  
• Under Chapter 594 of the Laws of 2000, members may purchase up to one (1) year for each authorized Child Care Leave.
  
  
• Under Chapter 498 of the Laws of 2005, active members who properly transferredCity time that occurred immediately prior to their New York City Police Department appointment may count this time as uniformed time, provided it is considered to have peace officer status under Section 2.10 of the CPL or is service as a NYC Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). This law is not retroactive, and it will affect a member’s contribution rate. Members who wish to have this time count as uniformed time must ask the Police Pension Fund’s Membership Services Unit for application assistance.
  
   This time, if properly transferred to the New York City Police Pension Fund at the time of appointment, shall be credited as uniformed time.

Other Credited Service
Other Credited Service is any service other than Allowable Police Service, and it counts as additional service credit (monetary benefit) beyond your required twenty (20) years. Other credited service includes membership service rendered while a member in a non-uniformed position within the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) and/or membership in the Board of Education Retirement System. In addition, uniformed service credit that does not immediately precede uniformed service in the New York City Police Department is considered to be Other Credited Service. All other service must be applied for within the prescribed time limits.

Prior Transit and Housing Service
Former Transit & Housing Police Officers who became members of the Police Pension Fund Article II due to the 1995 merger, or a rollover, maintain their eligibility based on their original dates of membership in the New York City Employees’     Retirement System  (NYCERS). Members should contact the Police Pension Fund, Membership Services Unit 212-693-5850  to verify their  membership dates into NYCERS versus their appointment dates.

         Note:  Members may buy back any missing service under Chapter 552. 

Retroactive Military Seniority

Retroactive Military Seniority (RMS) is awarded to a member after being appointed to the NYPD from a special list, retroactive to the date the member would have been appointed had the member not been serving in the military.  Members who receive RMS from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) receive pension credit retroactive to the date awarded by DCAS.

Upon receipt of a letter from DCAS stating the member has RMS, the member is immediately entitled to the same rights, privileges and obligations as if he had served continuously in such position from the date of his appointment. A member’s membership date will be adjusted to reflect the RMS Date (RMSD) found in the letter from DCAS; the member’s tier and contribution rate are also adjusted accordingly.  Members with RMS must, however, make pension contributions that were missed during the period between the RMSD and appointment to the NYPD. Contributions must be completed within the repayment period prescribed by law; the maximum repayment period is the time from the RMSD to the NYPD appointment multiplied by 3, up to a maximum of 5 years.  Once contributions are completed within the repayment period, the Pension Fund is required to credit the member’s contribution account with the interest that would have credited during this period.

Tier 2 members may elect to not make their contributions, forgoing the interest the Fund would have paid, thereby creating a shortage in their contribution account. If a shortage exists in the contribution account at the time of retirement, the pension will be offset by an actuarial equivalent to the shortage. Payments must be completed by the end of the repayment period, which is calculated as time from the RMSD to the NYPD appointment multiplied by 3, up to a maximum of 5 years.

Members may also elect to make voluntary contributions, i.e., the ITHP Waiver, and/or 50% Additional Contributions, as if they were made during the RMS period. The Fund is responsible for interest on such voluntary contributions. Members who make this election must elect to participate in one or both programs for the entire RMS period.

Please note a member cannot receive RMS and credit for the same military service through a buyback. Members who have already completed a military buyback for time covering the RMS period, will receive a refund for the buyback or the Fund will credit the money toward the RMS payment.

Inquiries regarding eligibility for RMS pension credit should be submitted in writing to the Police Pension Fund, attention Membership Services, 233 Broadway, 19^th Floor, New York, New York 10279. General questions may be directed to the Membership Services division at (212) 693-6860.