Last year the New York City Police Department lost more staff than it had in two decades, something the city’s top police union says points to a spiraling crisis, which the city’s leadership is “refusing to acknowledge.”
According to New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, things have escalated to a point where criminals could be emboldened, endangering the lives of New York City’s residents and tourists.
Lynch emphasized that the city’s Police Department is “playing a dangerous game by refusing to acknowledge and address its recruitment and retention crisis.”
Lynch also revealed in a recent interview he had with Fox News Digital that the Big Apple’s residents are “demanding more police presence in their neighborhoods and on the subway,” but emphasized that with the current staff compliment, the NYPD couldn’t “provide it consistently.”
PBA’s data shows the NYPD needs at least 1,200 recruits to reach its budgeted headcount and 2,500 new recruits if it wants to achieve the same staffing levels it had in 2019. However, the same data showed that the NYPD only managed to receive 543 recruits in 2022.
New York City’s police pension fund data also shows the city is losing manpower at alarming rates.
The data shows that in 2022, 1,955 NYPD officers retired, and a further 1,746 quit, bringing the total number of officers who left last year to 3,701 — outpacing recruits six-to-one.
The last time 2022’s figure was eclipsed was in 2002 when 3,846 members of the NYPD retired or quit.
