Wounded Arizona officer left in the dark about federal disability benefits

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A former police officer who was shot on duty and permanently disabled says his department never told him he could apply for federal benefits. A new watchdog report suggests many public safety agencies don’t know these benefits exist.

Preston Brogdon, a former sergeant with the Yavapai-Apache Police Department, said he learned about the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program during a chance encounter at a spring training game.

Brogdon was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch after the shooting, and while there, he happened to speak with an officer from another department who was aware of the program.

“It angers me that police officers don’t know about it,” said Brogdon.

He was able to gather the documents and apply this summer, more than two and a half years after the shooting. The deadline to file a claim is three years.

The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program (PSOB) has existed since 1976. It offers local, state, and federal police officers, firefighters, and EMTs more than $400,000 in benefits if they are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.

However, a report last week from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says many small police and fire departments are unaware of it. One expert estimates that up to two-thirds of the nation’s public safety agencies are unaware of PSOB and its benefits.

The report noted that PSOB does not directly contact departments. Instead, it provides grants to two nonprofit agencies—Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation—to spread the word and help departments and officers process claims.

“We’ll make the phone calls. We’ll make the connections. We’ll travel wherever they need us to go,” said Jim Warriner, the immediate past president of C.O.P.S Arizona.

Warriner said the nonprofit holds outreach events and trainings with Arizona police departments every few months to update them on changes with the program, but he acknowledged large departments may be more aware of the benefits than smaller ones.

Another gap may involve the disability benefit portion of the prorgam. As of May, there were more than twice as many applications seeking benefits for a death than a disability – 267 compared to 109. The GAO report notes that while several groups track officers killed on duty, no organization monitors officers who are disabled.

“It saddens me that agencies aren’t aware of the disability, if that’s the case, especially our smaller agencies,” said Warriner. “But I think with you taking on this story, it’s going to help get the word out.”

PSOB has expanded eligibility since 2020, allowing for claims in certain conditions for COVID-10 and for suicide. That has nearly doubled the claims from about 500 in fiscal year 2019 to about 900 in fiscal year 2023, the report said.

That has also slowed the agency’s ability to process claims. Based on the last analysis of claims processing from 2006 to 2008, it took PSOB between 17 and 26 months to determine disability claims. The report implies the time frame may be longer now.

Brogdon submitted his application about two months ago. He said the $400,000 benefit would essentially replace the state pension benefits he does not qualify for because the Yavapai-Apache Police Department was not a member of the pension system at the time.

Arizona’s Family Investigates reported earlier this year that the Yavapai-Apache Police Department joined the system after firing Brogdon.

“I’ve been fighting for so long,” he said, “I pray to God that it just gets to me.”

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