NYPD blues: ‘It will take 20 years to fix this mess’ as record 1,596 officers quit over ‘low pay, inferior benefits and constant abuse’

NEW YORK, NY – Buckle up, New York. The men and women of the NYPD received the defund message loud and clear and are heading for greener pastures in record numbers.

More than 1,500 NYPD officers have either resigned or retired so far this year – on pace to be the biggest exodus of officers since statistics have been available, The New York Post reported.

Pension statistics for the New York Police Department show that 524 cops have resigned and 1,072 have retired as of May 31.

The 1,596 total is a 38% surge over the same period in 2021, when 1,159 officers left, and an astonishing 46% leap over 2020’s numbers, when 1,092 left the force.

Anti-police hostility, bail reform and a soaring crime rate have fed into frustration among the NYPD rank and file, according to one officer who recently joined a Long Island police department after 6 1/2 years with the NYPD.

The former Queens patrol officer, who asked to be identified only as “Joe,” said his advice to fellow officers is to “get out while you still can.” He told The Post:

“The city is out of control — especially since bail reform.”

His own patrol job “got worse and worse” over time, Joe said, adding:

“The last few years so many people had been leaving and manpower was so low that you’d go to work and you’d answer 25 to 30 jobs a day and you’re burnt out by the end of the day.”

“There was no time for law enforcement,” he said, because a shift would be “radio run, radio run, radio run all day long.”

Even when he made an arrest, “[the suspects] were back in the precinct picking up their property the same day,” he said. The veteran officer described the futility of policing in New York City:

“Residents would ask, ‘Why does this keep happening?’ and I would have to explain to them, ‘This guy is going to be locked up tonight, but tomorrow night he’s going to come down your block again, he’s going to be on the same corner, you’re going to see him in the same stores [committing crimes]. I wish there was more we could do. But we can’t.’ ”

The pension stats are at odds with the NYPD’s figures, which show 1,091 officers leaving as of May 31, with 494 resigning and 594 retiring. The data obtained by The Post includes officers who are “running their time,” or using accrued days off, before they exit.

Those men and women are still counted in the NYPD’s books as being on the force, accounting for the discrepancy in totals.

The current number of 34,687 officers on the job is a significant drop from 2019, when there were 36,900 officers in the city. The environment is so bad that a record number of officers are leaving before earning a full pension. Police officers typically work 20 years or more to collect their full pension, which can be 50% of their final average salary.

Joe said:

“Last year the number of cops who quit before becoming eligible for their full pension was the highest in two decades. This year we are on pace for the highest ever recorded.”

Joe — who will receive a prorated fraction of what his pension would have been — knows at least four other NYPD officers who have left the city for departments on Long Island. He noted:

“Cops who made the move before me said, ‘It’s a decision you have to make. You can’t turn this job down. The quality of life is better, they treat you more like a human being than a number.’” 

He said other suggestions were to abandon the profession altogether or flee New York itself. He advised:

“Take other [civil service] tests, explore all options, look out of state, Florida, Texas, Arizona . . .My friends were all going to the Port Authority, Nassau, Suffolk, MTA [police departments].”

Joe said he checks in every day with friends at the Queens precinct and they tell him morale has plummeted. He said:

“When I ask, ‘How are things?’ the response is ‘Horrible. Worse than when you left and it’s only been six months.’ ” 

Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association Patrolman Union, warned that what’s bad for the NYPD is bad for all of New York. He said:

“The NYPD is sliding deeper into a staffing crisis that will ultimately hurt public safety.”

Lynch noted that the department is struggling to fill academy classes and added:

“Low pay, inferior benefits and constant abuse from the City Council and other anti-cop demagogues has pushed attrition to record highs.

“We need more cops working more hours to turn the tide of violence, but there is only so much overtime they can squeeze out of the cops who remain.”

NYPD cops on pace to quit, retire in record numbers https://t.co/aII9rg0Lxm

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 13, 2022

The NYPD had hoped to hire 1,009 recruits for the class that was sworn in back in December but the department fell far short of that goal with a total of 675 men and women, police sources said. Registration for the current police officer written exam, which is free of charge, runs through July 15.

Joseph Giacalone, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, had a stark warning to New Yorkers:

“It will take 20 years to fix this mess.”

Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant, added:

“The city is bleeding blue and only the cop haters will be celebrating . . . There’s no way to stop it. Activists, abolitionists, and their pandering politicians have done so much damage to the profession, that it will take a generation to fix, if at all.”

Widow of slain NYPD Det. Jason Rivera rips new Manhattan DA in eulogy to her husband

January 29, 2022

NEW YORK CITY – On Friday, New York City Det. Jason Rivera was laid to rest about a week after he was gunned down by a criminal thug in Manhattan’s Harlem district. Rivera’s widow, completely distraught over the murder of her husband, took the occasion to eviscerate newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

In a tearful eulogy to her slain husband, Dominique Luzuriaga blasted Bragg after claiming the system has failed, the Washington Times reported.

“The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service,” she said during the funeral mass, held before a full congregation at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA. I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now,” the young widow said, amid thunderous applause and a standing ovation from those sitting in the pews.

“I’m sure all of our blue family is tired too.”

“But I promise—we promise—that your death won’t be in vain,” she said.

Bragg, who was present at the service, assumed his post earlier this month. One of his first directives was to order his prosecutors to apply minimal prosecution standards for what he called “low-level” crimes.

For example, resisting arrest will no longer be prosecuted under Bragg, and he also reduced some felonies to misdemeanors, including for armed robbery.

After some in the city, including the new police commissioner, expressed outrage, Bragg tried to walk back the memo, saying people were getting the “wrong impression” about his policies, and said he understood why New Yorkers were concerned.

Bragg was one of a number of city officials who attended Rivera’s funeral, along with thousands of police officers from New York and the surrounding area, as well as out of state.

In a statement after the funeral, Bragg said he is “grieving and praying” for the two NYPD officers who lost their lives in the past week. Rivera’s partner, NYPD Wilbert Mora died from his wounds this past week.

“Violence against police officers will never be tolerated. My office will vigorously prosecute cases of violence against police and work to prevent senseless acts like this from ever happening again,” he said.

Bragg’s so-called lack of “tolerance” for violence against police officers didn’t transfer over to the Bronx.

The New York Daily News reported Friday that New York’s new mayor, Eric Adams was livid over the fact that a teen who shot another police officer last Friday was released on bond.

In that case, a so-called “up-and-coming rapper,” Camrin Williams, who uses the name C Blu is accused of shooting NYPD Off. Kaseem Penman in the Bronx last week. He was released on a $250,000 bond.

“New Yorkers should all be outraged that a repeat offender, accused of shooting at a police officer, is today walking free on bond because judges are precluded from even considering danger to the community, like every other state and our federal courts,” Adams said in a written statement.

“It is further proof that our current system is failing us.”

Adams’ statement came just a couple of hours after he had attended the funeral of Rivera in Manhattan. In that case, the suspect was sent where he belonged, having been shot to death by NYPD officers.

Since the deaths of Rivera and Mora in Harlem last week, Adams has argued that judges should be allowed to consider the level of danger a suspect poses to the community before they are released. He also pointed to Williams’ release as another example of lenient bail.

Williams’ attorney however has, as one might expect, a different version of the events, and claims that he never shot the police officer.

“My client didn’t shoot a police officer. He never pointed a gun. He never had a gun in his hand,” she said. “Police officers jumped on top of him and that’s how the gun went off and the bullet hit my client in the groin and went out through his thigh and grazed the leg of the police officer.”

Ah yes, the magic self-firing gun.

“My client is a victim as well as the police officer,” she said.

In addition to focusing on judges, Adams has also called for the city’s district attorneys to step up. While he didn’t criticize Bragg directly, he said that DAs need to do their part too,

At Rivera’s funeral, Bragg directed his criticisms toward the courts;

“Today of all days, with the city in mourning over the deaths of Detective First Grade Jason Rivera and Police Officer Wilbert Mora, we all must come together and agree that changes are needed,” he said.

“We cannot allow those who carry guns to walk free. We can pursue safety and justice at the same time, and we must, for the safety of us.”

Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today?  With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.  

Make sure you click “following” and then click “see first” so you don’t miss a thing!  (See image below.)  Thanks for being a part of the LET family!

The post NYPD blues: ‘It will take 20 years to fix this mess’ as record 1,596 officers quit over ‘low pay, inferior benefits and constant abuse’ appeared first on Law Enforcement Today.