Report shows NYPD’s pre-retirement resignations have jumped 71% compared to 2021

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is reportedly losing officers at a rapid rate. Officers who are leaving before hitting 20 years, the period in which they are eligible for a pension, has also increased by 71% from the year before, jumping to 1098 from 641, according to figures obtained by The New York Post.

NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said that the resignations, which have become known as “voluntary quits” are giving momentum to the “stampede,” and the Chief of Department Kenneth Corey stated that the graduating class of 2022 is significantly smaller than previous years.

“We have had retirement waves caused by large academy classes before — they were nothing like this,” Lynch said. “This exodus is the result of cops in the prime of their careers deciding they have had enough. … The NYPD should stop trying to explain this staffing crisis away. Admit there’s a problem and help us fix it.”

The New York Post also ran an article in June saying that more than 1,500 officers had either resigned or retired.

An officer who asked for anonymity and to be called “Joe” blamed bail reform and being short staffed for the high number of departures. “The city is out of control — especially since bail reform,” Joe said, before going on to say that the philosophy amongst many officers was “get out” as soon as you can. Joe also said that as time passed, his shift got “worse and worse.”

“The last few years so many people had been leaving and manpower was so low that you’d go to work and you’d answer 25 to 30 jobs a day and you’re burnt out by the end of the day,” Joe said, adding that, “there was no time for law enforcement” because it would be “radio run, radio run, radio run all day long.”

Joe also noted that even when officers did make an arrest, “they were back in the precinct picking up their property the same day.”