Thousands of NYPD cops retired or quit last year, although at a lower rate than 2022, according to statistics reviewed by Newsday. But the continued exodus of officers since 2020, when accusations of police abuse led to widespread citywide protests, has spurred a push by some union officials for new legislation in Albany aimed at keeping younger cops on the job.
Statistics compiled by the NYPD and the Police Benevolent Association — the latter of which used figures compiled from the police pension fund — showed combined totals for retirements and resignations in 2023 of between 2,516 to 2,931 officers. In 2022, the NYPD reported a total of 3,496 while the PBA showed 3,701.
The disparate numbers result from different methodologies used to consider when an officer is “retired.” The PBA counts a cop as retired when papers are filed and the officer is no longer reporting for duty. The NYPD considers an officer retired after they use up their accumulated time off, the spokesman said. Officers who quit before their 20 years can still collect a pension if they hit the five-year vesting mark.
The continued drain on NYPD staff levels has been exacerbated by the demonstrations over police abuse and laws restricting cops following the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers, said Chris Herrmann, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“All of these cops are at the tail end of their career and went through the pandemic and protest and are fed up with the job,” Herrmann said.
Anecdotal evidence has shown that NYPD cops who resign have been hired as police on Long Island, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as in Florida.
“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,” an NYPD spokesman said in an email, adding that the department "hired over 2,300 recruits in 2023.”
But even with new hires, the NYPD is at its lowest level for sworn officers since former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, with 33,541 cops on the job as of Oct. 20, 2023. The NYPD hit a high of 41,000 in September 2001. Union officials fear that Mayor Eric Adams’s announced budget cuts could lead to a police headcount under 30,000.
Paul DiGiacomo, head of the Detectives Endowment Association, said that older detectives are fed up with large works loads and lasting anti-police sentiment on the streets.
“I am losing members every day,” DiGiacomo said.