The New York Police Department is facing a crisis of epic proportions as a mass exodus from the force continues. Pension fund data shows that 3,054 police officers have filed retirement paperwork, putting the department on pace for more than 4,000 departures this year.
4,000 departures would be significantly higher that the 3,846 departures in 2002, when thousands of officers left the force following the 9/11 attacks which killed 24 NYPD cops.
“We keep ringing the alarm bell louder and louder, and every month the numbers get worse,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch in comments to the New York Post. “We have gone from a staffing problem to a staffing crisis, and now a full-blown staffing emergency.”
Multiple factors are prompting the mass exodus, but most significant among them are the city’s rising crime rates and the burdensome cost of living in and around New York City, according to retired NYPD detective Michael Alcazar, who now serves as an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Crime and staffing issues have forced the NYPD to spend some $600 million on overtime in the new fiscal year that began in July – 61% more than the $372 million budgeted for overtime, according to the Post.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
5 Responses
Ah, come on. As our affermative action Mayor lectured us, it’s only a “perception”. Everything is fine.
The police created it upon themselves…
De-fund them
The so-called mayor is perfectly fine with whites leaving the NYPD as he fills their newly vacant positions with affirmative action hires.
There is an important fact missing from this article: What is the usual number of officers applying for retirement status each year, for the last 10 or 20 years? And how many filers actually retire?