New York Police Department (NYPD) officers faced more attacks in the first quarter of 2023 than during the same period last year, according to statistics released by the NYPD.
On-duty NYPD officers sustained a total of 1,234 injuries between January 1 and March 31, 2023 compared to 942 injuries within the same period in 2022, according to the NYPD Use of Force Data Tables. This represents an almost 31% increase. A total of 17 off-duty NYPD cops were injured in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 11 in the first quarter of 2022, representing an approximate 54.5% increase, according to the data tables.
An NYPD Transit Bureau officer who was injured while trying to arrest an alleged subway fare evader in January commented, “Lawmakers aren’t supporting us,” according to the New York Post. An adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice blamed the increase in officer injuries on bail reform, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Watch: Video Captures Daytime Stabbing In Middle Of New York Street)
New names of officers are unveiled on the New York Police Department Police Memorial Wall, many of whom died in the line of duty or suffered life-altering injuries. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Julia Salazar, a New York lawmaker and self-identified Democratic socialist, tweeted in May 2020 people “should call to defund the NYPD.” Another New York lawmaker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted in April 2023 a new NYPD pay raise was being “paid for with devastating budget cuts to public schools, libraries, affordable housing, healthcare, & more.” New York City mayor Eric Adams said the improved NYPD contract would help officers get “the benefits and compensation they deserve, allow them to work a more flexible schedule, build morale going forward and ensure that New York remains the safest big city in America,” according to CBS News.