Besides the one-time payment of nearly $860,000, area groups have joined hands to raise $50,000 for the family of the slain Providence officer.

09:40 AM EDT on Monday, June 27, 2005

BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The wife and children of slain police Detective Sgt. James L. Allen are entitled to one-time payouts of $858,811 from a variety of public and private sources, as well as annuities and other benefits.

They are falling into a stout safety net woven, over the years, by the government and advocates for the well-being of the survivors of law-enforcement officers.

In the Allens' case, that safety net has been strengthened by the charitable impulses of donors appalled by his killing. The $858,811 does not include more than $50,000 collected in private fundraising for his family.

Marguerite Allen and their two daughters, Jennifer, 15, and Caitlin, 14, potentially would benefit in at least 17 different ways, including lump-sum and recurring payments, scholarships and other benefits, and private fundraising.

"It sounds like a lot of money. But when you come right down to it, what price do you put on a life?," said Frank N. DiMarzo, executive director emeritus of the 100 Club of Rhode Island.

The nonprofit 100 Club gives the spouses of police officers and firefighters who die in the line of duty $10,000, within two days of the public-safety worker's death, and provides continuing benefits for their surviving children.

In a statement, Marguerite Allen expressed her thanks for the donations gathered in a campaign by the R.I. State Council of Churches, which has collected more than $50,000.

"While no amount of money could ever replace a husband, father, son, brother and friend, it helps to know that people care," she said. "Please keep us in your prayers as we try to cope with this terrible heartbreak and its devastating effects on our lives."

James Allen was killed April 17, in the detective bureau of the Providence Police Department, when a suspect in a stabbing and attempted robbery allegedly wrested away Allen's gun and shot him twice. The suspect, Esteban Carpio, of Nashua Street, is being held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions, and is charged with murder.

The largest single segment of the lump-sum payouts will come from the federal government: a $275,658 death benefit for the spouse of any law-enforcement officer killed in the line of duty.

The benefit, authorized in a previous law, was sharply increased under the Patriot Act.

State government will be close behind, according to Ray Filippone, assistant director of the state Department of Labor and Training, with a projected $110,263 payment for Marguerite Allen.

State law calls for a cash death benefit equal to 40 percent of the federal benefit. The law, adopted in 2002, is intended to benefit the immediate family of a law-enforcement officer or firefighter killed on the job. James Allen is the first Rhode Island police officer killed in the line of duty since its enactment.

THE OTHER lump-sum payouts, according to the police labor contract, the Fraternal Order of Police and city officials, include:

A $200,000 accidental-death payout from a city insurance policy, in accordance with a labor contract between the city and Allen's labor union, the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 3.

$106,177 in severance pay -- compensation for accumulated sick leave and vacation time -- as provided by city law and the contract.

$131,213, representing the sum of Allen's contributions to the city retirement system over the years of his employment, plus interest. Under city law, his spouse is allowed to withdraw the money and still receive a full pension.

A $10,000 death benefit from the state FOP.

The $10,000 payment from the 100 Club, the state branch of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the families of public-safety officers who die on duty.

A $4,000 payment from the nonprofit Providence Police Association, which maintains an endowment with officers' voluntary payroll deductions.

Reimbursement by the city of up to $7,500 in expenses for the funeral and burial of an officer killed in the line of duty, as is spelled out in the contract.

Separate $2,000 payouts from life-insurance policies maintained by FOP Lodge 3 and the state FOP.

Allen's family would not be eligible for money from the Rhode Island Crime Victim Compensation Program administered by the office of the state general treasurer, said spokeswoman Marisol Garcia.

The program's rules preclude assistance to the survivors of a person killed in the performance of his or her duty in a hazardous job, she said.

DESPITE THE loss of Allen's salaries from the city and his part-time security job at a supermarket, his family will be able to rely on city-provided medical insurance and at least three continuing sources of income: a city pension, a modest state annuity, and payments to his two daughters from the 100 Club.

Before he died, the 51-year-old Allen was receiving an annual salary of $62,229.

Under the city pension plan, his beneficiary would qualify for a payment of $30,549.96 a year.

That represents one-half of the average of his three highest years' salary, which includes bonus pay for longevity and for working as a detective and on the night shift. It would be generally tax-free, under federal and state law, because his was a so-called accidental death.

Police Chief Dean M. Esserman promoted Allen posthumously, from detective to detective sergeant, assuring the family of an increase in the pension to $30,549.96, under the present rules.

However, City Council President John J. Lombardi has introduced a resolution, which the council and Mayor David N. Cicilline are expected to adopt, that would make a one-time exception to the rules in order to further increase the pension.

Rather than basing the pension calculation on the average of the three highest years' salaries, only the highest one year's salary would be used. That would assure that Allen's posthumous promotion would have the maximum effect.

According to a preliminary calculation distributed by the city retirement office to city officials and the FOP, that would boost the pension to $35,375.34, tax-free.

FIXED BY law, the state annuity will pay Marguerite Allen $300 a month, or $2,600 a year, for herself, and $100 a month, or $1,200 a year, for each daughter, according to Filippone. That would make an annual total of $5,000.

The state annuity is payable to the survivors of a police officer who dies in the line of duty, or from a heart condition or hypertension, which are presumed to be job-related ailments.

The wife's payment lasts as long as she remains unmarried and the daughters' respective payments last until they turn 18.

The annuity is part of a three-part state benefit package that includes the $110,263 lump sum. By law, the spouse or child of a slain police officer also is eligible for up to four years' free tuition at a state-run college or university.

In addition, the 100 Club every year gives $1,000 in savings bonds to each child of a slain officer, until the child reaches 18. And it gives an annual $2,500 scholarship to each child, for four to six years of college.

THERE IS another potential benefit provided by the labor contract.

If either of Allen's daughters decides to become a Providence police officer, she must be given preferential consideration for appointment. That provision applies to the children of an officer who is killed on duty, or dies from on-duty injuries, or is given an accidental-disability pension because he or she is permanently disabled by heart disease.

There is a tradition in the Providence police and fire departments in which the children of officers and firefighters follow a parent into the service.

Either daughter would have to meet all physical and mental requirements for appointment and pass any examination required of an applicant, the contract states.

Supplementing the standing benefits provided by law, labor contract or private organizations, there have been a variety of fundraising activities.

The most substantial so far apparently has been mounted by the state Council of Churches, which has gathered more than $50,000 from in-state and out-of-state donors.

"People are being incredibly generous, taking care of our own," said the Rev. John E. Holt, the council's executive minister. "What's really heartening is the notes that are being written," addressed to James Allen's family, he said.

The largest donation, $10,000, was made by The Providence Journal Co. The Journal also published free advertising promoting the council's fundraising.

Mr. Holt emphasized that every dollar donated will go to the family; the council is keeping nothing for administrative costs.

James Allen's colleagues in the detective bureau organized a benefit dinner May 20 at the Providence FOP lodge hall, the owners and staff of the Comedy Connection nightclub in East Providence did a fundraiser last month, and a boxing show this month at the Dunkin' Donuts Center was also expected to benefit the family.

"There's a lot of people doing different things," including college students collecting money on street corners, said Sgt. Robert Paniccia, FOP president.

Outside of the organized fundraising was an impromptu effort by Kay Levesque, of Tiverton, manager of the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop downtown, whose patrons include police officers.

"When I read in the paper that it was his job to collect the coffee money in the Police Department, I thought it would be nice if we collected the coffee money for him," Levesque said.

Allen's daughters take dance lessons, so Levesque put a label on a donation jar on the store counter saying that the money would go for those lessons. She gathered $426.

With a report from staff writer Liz Anderson.