Over 2,500 police officers have left the New York Police Department (NYPD) so far in 2023, according to data analyzed by the New York Post.
At least 2,516 officers have left the department in 2023, the fourth highest number over the past ten years, the New York Post reported, citing pension data from the department. The department saw over 1,000 officers decide to quit before they became eligible for their pension after 20 years of service.
“The workload is a leading factor driving people away from the job,” Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Hendry told the Post. “If the NYPD is going to survive these staffing reductions, it cannot just keep squeezing cops for more hours.”
Democratic Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced Nov. 16 that the NYPD would freeze hiring in order to address the city’s mounting migrant crisis, two days after he said the city would not hire a class of 250 school safety agents currently being trained.
The NYPD responded to 69 antisemitic attacks in October, a 331% increase in the figure from September in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack launched by Hamas against multiple locations in southern Israel.
“I keep in contact with the guys that I was in the police academy with and we all have the same notion,” one police officer told the New York Post. “I think maybe 95% of us are planning on leaving.”
The exodus began after the 2020 death of George Floyd in police custody, and has seen over 10,000 cops leave, according to the Post, which cited NYPD pension data.
Harold Hutchison on November 25, 2023
