NYPD Cops Are Retiring in Record Numbers 2022

nypd cops

According to the New York Post, more than 1,500 NYPD cops have resigned or retired this year – on track to be the most significant departure of officers since the statistics were first collected in 2008.

NYPD pension statistics from The Post show that as of May 31, 524 officers had resigned, and 1,072 had retired.

More than three times as many officers left the force in 2021 when 1,159 officers retired, and more than four times as many left in 2020 when 1,092 officers retired by the same date.

Increasing anti-cop sentiment, bail reform, and an increase in crime have contributed to a sense of dissatisfaction among New York City’s police officers, according to a former NYPD officer who recently left the force for a Long Island police department.

Joe, a former Queens police officer, tells the New York Times that “the city is out of control—especially since bail reform.” “Get out while you can” has become the new rallying cry.

nypd cops

As Joe recalled, his work as a patrol officer “got worse and worse” over time.

“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,” he said, adding, “there was no time for law enforcement” because it would be “radio run, radio run, radio run all day long.”

He made an arrest, but “they returned to the precinct the same day to pick up their property.”

“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,’” Joe said.

The NYPD’s figures show that 1,091 cops will be out of a job as of May 31, with 494 resigning and 594 retiring, despite the shocking pension stats.

nypd cops

On the whole, fewer NYPD cops are on the force now than in 2019, when there were 36,900.

An officer’s full pension is typically 50% of their final average salary if they have worked for 20 years or more. Some are “running their time” or using accrued vacation days before leaving the company. According to the NYPD’s records, those officers are still active.

A record number of NYPD cops resigned before receiving their full pensions last year. According to the source, we’re on track to have the best year. In addition to Joe, at least four of his former New York City Police Department colleagues have relocated to Long Island.

They told me it was a decision I had to make because those who went before me had. This is a job you cannot refuse. People are treated as individuals rather than just a number in the military, and the quality of life is better. ‘Take other [civil service] tests, explore all options, look out of state…’ Joe advised. The Port Authority, Nassau, Suffolk, and MTA [police departments] were on my friends’ itinerary.”

Joe says he keeps in touch with his former Queens precinct friends “every day,” and morale has “plummeted.”

Asked, ‘How are things going?’ the answer is always, “Horrible.'” The worst it has gotten in the six months since you left,” he said. Law enforcement officials predicted repercussions from the mass exodus.

nypd cops

Patrick Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association Patrolman Union, said that the NYPD is in a “staffing crisis that will ultimately harm public safety.”

According to Lynch, “Low pay, inferior benefits, and constant abuse from the City Council and other anti-cop demagogues has pushed attrition to record highs.” He also noted that the department “is struggling” to fill Academy classes.

However, “there is only so much overtime that can be squeezed from the cops who remain,” he said.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) had hoped to recruit 1,009 new officers for the December class. However, according to police sources, the NYPD’s upcoming graduating class is just 675. Registration for the current police officer exam opened on June 8 and is free.

A former NYPD sergeant and current John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor, Joseph Giacalone, predicted that it would take 20 years to clean up the mess.

This city is bleeding blue, and only those who despise police officers will be celebrating. It can’t be stopped. There has been so much damage done to the profession by activists, abolitionists, and their pandering politicians that it will take generations to repair if it ever does.

BLUE SKIDOO

Annual attrition for 2022 through May 31

Year/Retirements/Resignations/Total

2022/1,072/524/1,596

2021/838/321/1,159

2020/834/258/1,092

2019/837/207/1,044

2018/631/193/824

Source: NYPD pension fund