Criminal Justice Student Publishes Article on Estate Planning

Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice doctoral student Sandy Rao published an article on estate planning and law enforcement officers. The article, “The Perils of Neglecting Estate Planning,” was published in Police Chief Magazine.

Rao, who has worked with the U.S. Marshals since 2001, was motivated to investigate estate planning and how it relates to fellow officers after the death of a close friend and mentor, his parents and grandmother. He was also motivated by the overall dangers that come with working in law enforcement.

Rao also created a Survey Monkey questionnaire and administered it in his own task force. The survey included questions on how often the officers themselves faced danger and traumatic experiences while on the job. Rao hoped to show his colleagues how dangerous the profession is, and the benefits of being prepared if something happened. Out of the total respondents, over 51% had been involved in a shooting 53 percent had been injured or hospitalized, and 49 percent had been exposed to a dead body on the job.

However, only 23% of respondents had a will. “Policing is a dangerous profession, making it a field in which estate planning is especially important,” Rao wrote. Rao is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Nova Southeastern University. Looking ahead, he said he hopes to do his dissertation on probable cause fugitive cases.