A little-known pension scheme in the City of Angels lets public safety workers double-dip at the taxpayers’ expense.

The Deferred Retirement Option Plan allows longtime police and firefighters who game the system right to retire with lump sum payments that average around $300,000, but go as high as $1 million. This in a city that is running at least $150 million in the red.

Voters in L.A. recently rejected a half-cent sales tax increase that would have helped reduce the city’s budget deficit.

Local public television station KCET has been reporting on the DROP pension scandal:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: @peesch.

Your support is crucial…

With an uncertain future and a new administration casting doubt on press freedoms, the danger is clear: The truth is at risk.

Now is the time to give. Your tax-deductible support allows us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes what’s really happening — without compromise.

Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and unearth untold stories.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG