By Michael V. Cusenza
One of Gotham’s most challenging occupations—specifically, patrolling some of the most dangerous precincts in the world—is not getting any easier, according to the City Police Benevolent Association.
On Saturday, the PBA took to social media to alert the public to what it has characterized as a staffing crisis.
“The NYPD is losing cops in the prime of their careers to other police agencies that offer better benefits — including TWENTY FOUR who left in ONE DAY this week,” PBA officials wrote on Saturday. The Finest union also urged Big Apple residents to “tell Albany that the NYPD needs competitive benefits” to retain the men and women in blue. Visit nycpba.org/community/nypd-staffing-crisis/ to have your voice heard.
City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) saw this particular crisis on the horizon.
Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
Twenty-four cops resigned in one day last week, according to the PBA.
“Without a change in criminal justice laws, cashless bail, discovery laws, stopping the dehumanizing and demoralizing of police officers and restoring qualified immunity as a start, this mass exodus will continue and less and less new applicants will sign up to become NYPD Officers,” she said. “State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul wake up and do the right thing!”
This is not the only predicament facing the City’s police force. Cops suffered 4,600 injuries at the hands of violent suspects in the first nine months of 2024 – the most since the NYPD started keeping such statistics in 2016, according to a New York Post report from last year.
“Far too many routine calls are turning into all-out brawls, and the reason is obvious: our justice system keeps releasing the same violent, repeat offenders, and they keep attacking cops when we try to lock them up again,” said PBA President Patrick Hendry.
