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Mayor announces TPD chief to retire, return

Toledo City Police Chief Derrick Diggs will retire March 21, but he won't be gone for long.
TPD Chief Derrick Diggs

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Toledo City Police Chief Derrick Diggs will retire March 21, but he won't be gone for long.

In order to protect his pension as part of the Deferred Retirement Option Program's (DROP) stipulations, Diggs has to retire now. But after 35 years of service, he isn't done.

"I'm not ready to retire," Diggs said. "There's still a lot of work to be done protecting and serving the City of Toledo."

So Mayor Mike Bell will re-hire Diggs as soon as they are legally able to.

The DROP program is designed to keep Police and Fire from having large numbers of their staff retiring at once. Participants are required to retire after eight years in the program to get their pension.

"What people need to realize is that this money the chief put into the pension system, it's not a free giveaway," Mayor Bell said.

The state allows participants to be re-hired, so Bell plans to bring Diggs back, rather than search for someone new.

"That's the bottom line," Bell said. "This individual is trained very well – he could probably go anywhere in the United States and be a police chief – so we're not going to stop him from working. Why not keep the talent here, locally?"

Chief Diggs has spear-headed several initiatives to rid the streets of Toledo of drugs, guns and gangs.

"I spent my entire adult life doing one thing, and one thing only, and that's protecting and serving the citizens of this community," Diggs said. "My vision for public safety has not been complete yet."

The chief could put his badge back on as soon as March 23, but if he returns sooner than 60 days after retiring, he would forfeit two months of his pension.

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