The politicians on Capitol Hill couldn't get those heroes up there fast enough, to bask in their glory, pause for photo ops and pontificate on the goodness of our public servants.

But after the pomp was over and the citations read aloud and the lawmakers concluded their handshakes and back slaps, the Legislature has been demonstrating just how superficial and disingenuous that public gesture was.

Salt Lake City Police officers Andy Oblad, Josh Scharman, Dustin Marshall and Brett Olsen, along with Ogden cop Kenneth Hammond, who was off-duty the night of the shooting and left his pregnant wife in a mall restaurant while he attempted to halt the shooter, are true heroes.

But if one of those brave officers had lost his life that night, the death benefit for his wife would have been less than the retirement benefit available to the surviving spouses of other public employees, including firefighters.

That is just one inequity suffered by Utah law enforcers. The other, equally egregious, is that annual cost-of-living increases for the pensions of police officers, sheriff's deputies and state troopers are capped at 2.5 percent, while the pension raises for all other public employees are capped at 4 percent.

So if the rate of inflation is, say, 2.8 percent, all retirees under the state system get a full 2.8 percent cost-of-living raise because their cap is 4 percent. Law enforcement retiree raises are limited to their 2.5 percent cap. If inflation is below 2.5 percent, everyone gets the same COLA. But most years see inflation increases greater than 2.5 percent.

There is legislation to correct both inequities, but indications are the bills are going nowhere, and one sponsor has already been told the funding will not be forthcoming.

This is the sixth year in a row that the Legislature has been asked to increase retirement COLAS for cops to the same cap level as other government employees, and to give surviving spouses the 75 percent of their retirement given to everyone else, including firefighters, not the current 65 percent. Each year, the Legislature has failed to pass either of those measures.

In past years, advocates for equalizing law enforcement benefits have been told there wasn't enough money. But this year there is a $1.6 billion surplus. The cost of increasing the COLA and the death benefit for all law enforcement - state and local - would be $9 million, according to the Legislature's fiscal analyst.

It isn't just about the money, however. Petty squabbling between the House and the Senate plays a role. The Senate wants to pass the increases just for state troopers. The House wants the increases for all law enforcement, including the local police agencies. Over the years, when the Senate passed its version, it died in the House. When the House passed its version, it died in the Senate.

Oblad, Scharman, Marshall, Olsen and Hammond looked a bit embarrassed as legislators heaped praise and said how proud they were of them. Like the heroes they are, the five insisted they were just doing their jobs.

It's a good bet that all of those officers would have gladly forgone any ceremony, any hint of praise, in exchange for the same retirement and spousal benefits afforded other public servants.

But legislators would rather prance around and praise these heroes, basking in all their reflected glory as they did with such relish that day, than actually do something meaningful for them and for all those others who put their lives on the line every single day.