More officers departed the NYPD from January through November 2022 than during that period in any year since 2002, according to New York City Police Pension Fund data cited by The New York Times.
Roughly 3,200 NYPD officers retired or otherwise left in the first eleven months of this year, a 20-year record, the outlet reported. Approximately 1,225 officers in their first five years on the force resigned, surpassing such resignations in 2021 and 2020 by nearly 40% and 257% respectively.
The wave of NYPD resignations comes as the department continues to grapple with violent crime. Year-to-date robbery, felony assault and burglary complaints through Dec 4. all rose in 2022 compared to the previous year, with transit crime increasing by more than 30%, NYPD statistics show.
“Other communities are recognizing the talent and are poaching our members,” New York City Police Benevolent Association Patrick J. Lynch told the NYT. “If we pay our police officers a market rate of pay, they will stay here. We know that’s the answer because that’s what these other departments and jurisdictions are doing, with success.” (RELATED: Police Officer Resigns After Body Cam Video Allegedly Shows Him Body-Slamming Woman)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: Police gather at the scene of a shooting in Brooklyn that left one person dead on June 16, 2022 in New York City. While much of the nation has witnessed a rise in gun violence over the last year, police are anticipating a surge in shootings over the coming summer months. According to NYPD statistics, a total of 656 people have been shot in 559 incidents so far this year. (Photo By Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Newly-retired Aurora, Colorado, police chief Dan Oates, a former NYPD deputy chief, recruited 14 NYPD officers to move to his department, according to NYT. The Aurora Police Department provides a more than $20,000 higher starting salary than the NYPD, and local rents are far lower on average than in New York City.
“I feel bad raiding my home agency,” Oates told the NYT. “But frankly it’s a cutthroat environment right now among police chiefs to recruit talent, and we all desperately need it.”
“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,” the department told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Year to date we have hired approximately 2000 individuals including 600 individuals who were hired in October and have been training at the Police Academy.”
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