NYPD Pension Fund: 4K Cops to Make Mass Exit by Year’s End Due to Morale Dive
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Between the rising crime rate and the growing movement to defund the police, it appears that morale amongst police officers in New York City is plummeting.
According to data obtained by the New York Post, the NYPD is on pace to see more than 4,000 cops retire or resign this year – the most since the post-9/11 exodus.
Pension fund figures reveal 3,054 officers have filed to leave the department so far this year — 42% more than the 2,155 who exited at the same time last year through September 30th, the Post reported.
This essentially translates into the NYPD losing 4,072 police officers this year alone is the pace continues as it has been. The Post reported that this figure is surpasses the number of cops who left the force in 2002. At that time, the police force suffered substantial reductions as 3,846 officers left the force following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, where 24 cops were killed, the Post reported.
The mass exodus of police personnel has constituted a “staffing emergency” according to leaders of the police union, the report indicated.
According to figures released by the Independent Budget Office, the current amount of New York police officers numbers 34,000 which marks a substantial decrease from the 40,200 cops on the job in the Big Apple in 2000, the Post reported. In an attempt to keep more cops on the street in a city that is ridden by an escalating crime rate, the Post reported that the NYPD in on pace to shell out $600 million in overtime payments for uniformed officers in the new fiscal year that began in July. The monetary increase in overtime payments amounts to 61% percent more than the $372 million budgeted for overtime, the Post reported, based on the findings of the Independent Budget Office.
NYPD overtime spending had already skyrocketed to $670 million in fiscal year 2022, which ended June 30 — up 57% from the $426 million spent the year before, when Covid caused the cancellation of many police-heavy public events, the Post reported.
In the spring of 2020 when the George Floyd riots broke out across the country and in New York City, police overtime totaled $721 million, the report indicated, The Post reported that prior to that, in fiscal year 2018 and 2019, over time spending for uniformed officers was $589 million and $599 million, respectively.
Speaking to the Post, Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice said, “New York has become Dodge City — and those who can are getting out of Dodge. And not just the cops.”
A 30-year-old Queens cop quit his “dream job” this summer and hasn’t looked back. He took a private-sector gig after only seven years on the force, the Post reported.
Speaking to the publication, he said. “I have no regrets about leaving. From what I hear from the many officers I still speak to, the NYPD has actually somehow become worse in just the few months I’ve been gone. I didn’t even know that was possible. The job has become unsustainable for a lot of people — financially, mentally, everything about it.”
He added that, “Officers want to have pride in what we do, but pride only goes so far when you’re constantly being beat down and treated like a child by the department’s incompetent and ignorant leaders and disrespected by the public on a daily basis. When the whole system is working against you, when you can’t cover your bills, and never see your family, you start to ask ‘Why am I doing this anymore?’”
The bulk of those officers seeking to leave the force in New York City began in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing by a Minnesota police officer in May of 2020, the Post reported. The killing of Floyd which was deemed as racially motivated as the police officer was white and Floyd was black fueled a campaign by Democrats to stage raucous protests on the national level and to forge ahead with the defund the police movement, which would leave ordinary, law abiding citizens without any law enforcement protection against criminals of all sorts. The Post also reported that a number of NYPD officers became collateral damage due to the mayhem that ensued after Floyd was killed.
Police officers in New York City who are outraged by the egregious way they have been treated are seeking other civil service positions and taking tests to qualify for these positions, the Post reported. Some NY cops are seeking positions on other nearby police forces such as Long Island and even out of state while others are joining the NY/NJ Port Authority police department where the pay is better.
The Post reported that the average base starting pay for NYPD cops is currently about $42,000 — and max pay after 5.5 years is $86,000. Long Island officers’ wages nearly double, to $155,600, after 11.5 years of service.
Speaking to the Post, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said, “We keep ringing the alarm bell louder and louder, and every month the numbers get worse. We have gone from a staffing problem, to a staffing crisis, and now to a full-blown staffing emergency. The city must immediately address the low pay and punishing work schedules that are driving cops out.”
An NYPD spokesperson told the Post, “The NYPD regularly monitors attrition and plans accordingly to address the loss of officers who retire or leave the Department for a variety of reasons. On Wednesday, the NYPD hired 600 individuals who have already begun their training at the Police Academy.”
The NYPD has hired 1,982 recruits this year, but even after they graduate from the police academy, they would fill less than half of the 4,000 new openings, the Post reported.
QUITTIN’ TIME
Annual yearly attrition numbers
2022 — 3,054 (Through Sept. 30)
2021 — 2,811
2020 — 3,315
2019 — 2,342
2018 — 2,006
2017 — 2,027
2016 — 2,103
2015 — 2,135
2014 — 1,987
2013 — 2,355
2012 — 2,003
2011 — 2,149
2010 — 2,010
2009 — 1,330
2008 — 1,910
2007 — 2,756
2006 — 3,189
2005 — 3,400
2004 — 3,397
2003 — 3,015
2002 — 3,846
Source: NYPD pension stats
WORKIN’ OT
NYPD uniformed overtime expenditures over the previous five fiscal years. FY 2022 ended on June 30, 2022:
2022 — $670,035,013
2021 — $425,558,041
2020 — $721,394,734
2019 — $599,205,790
2018 — $589,293,350
Source: NYC Independent Budget Office
