The head police union leader for New York City has accused officials for the NYPD of outright refusing to acknowledge the crisis currently raging about the department’s recruitment and retention in the wake of losing even more members of staff last year than at any point in the last twenty years.
“The NYPD is playing a dangerous game by refusing to acknowledge and address its recruitment and retention crisis,” explained Patrick Lynch, the New York City Police Benevolent Association President, to Fox News Digital. “New Yorkers are demanding more police presence in their neighborhoods and on the subway, but we just don’t have the staffing to provide it consistently.”
Lynch called out the officials after the association made the claim that the department fell quite short close to 600 recruits when it needed well over 1,200 new recruits to hit the mark that the current budget has for a headcount and the needed 2,500 new recruits to bring the department back up to staffing levels from 2019.
“Underpaying & overworking police officers is hurting public safety,” explained the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, which is responsible for representing over 50,000 currently active and retired New York City Police Officers, via social media. “The time to fix it is NOW. #NYPDExodus”
Hiring day at @NYPDTraining Academy:
We needed +1,200 new recruits to reach the current budgeted headcount, or 2,500 to get back to 2019 staffing levels.⁰
We got 543.
Underpaying & overworking police officers is hurting public safety. The time to fix it is NOW. #NYPDExodus pic.twitter.com/gLd5mh0l3i— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) January 17, 2023
Data concerning the New York City Police Pension Fund which were reported by Fox News express that 3,701 members departed from the force throughout last year, of which 1,746 quit and 1,955 retired throughout 2022. This figure marks the largest number of officers departing the force from the department in close to two decades, expressed the news outlet.
Over the course of the year following the horrible events of 9/11, data highlighted that 3,846 NYPD personnel either quit or left the force in 2002.
Data from between 2010 and 2019 showed that the department dropped by an average of 2,112 people.
“Many talented, dedicated recruits don’t want to raise their hand for the NYPD because they’ll be paid better and treated better at almost any other police department,” stated Lynch to Fox News Digital. “New York City needs to make a major investment in paying and treating its police officers like professionals. It can’t afford not to.”
Lynch went on to add that the crisis in staffing has only made the city’s criminal elements much more bold and resulted in both tourists and residents alike being endangered throughout the massive city.
One spokesperson for the NYPD explained to Fox News digital this past Thursday that “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.”
“While recent events outside of the department continue to present challenges to recruitment efforts, we continue to focus on the positive results that happen when someone joins this organization,” concluded the spokesperson. “In January 2023, we hired more than 500 individuals who have begun training at the Police Academy in addition to the approximately 2000 individuals we hired in 2022.”