The Washington State Department of Retirement Systems serves nearly 700,000 current and former public employees in Washington by providing expertise, tools and services to help them prepare for and experience a successful retirement. As the administrator of eight public retirement systems, 15 retirement plans and the Deferred Compensation Savings Program, DRS serves a diverse population of state and local government employees, including fire fighters, teachers and police officers. Retirement benefits earned by these employees result in more than $3.4 billion in payments each year, most of which is distributed in the state of Washington.