According to statistics obtained by , The New York Post, the NYPD’s personnel rates are currently at their lowest level in more than three decades and the percentage of applicants for the pressure has decreased by more than half in the last eight times.
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD lieutenant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, attributes the drop in hiring to new regulations, which he claims lowers police morale and performance. ” A lot of my kids don’t want to be officers again”, Giacalone said. ” The entire group used to want to get police.”
Six costs that critics claim have exacerbated the hiring crisis were passed by the City Council in 2020. Among them is the stranglehold ban, which prohibits officials from applying pressure to a child’s neck or diaphragm, and the” How Many Starts Act”, which requires officials to record every face.
Possible volunteers have been further dissuaded by express bail reform legislation. Officers complain that repeat offenders, some of whom are illegal immigrants who the NYPD don’t turn over to ICE, commit crimes and are promptly released again on the streets.
In 2017, 18, 000 prospective people of New York’s Finest took the test. By 2023, that number had dropped to just 8, 000— a 55 % decline, based on figures from the Police Benevolent Association ( PBA ), the city’s largest police union.
The Post reported to a Brooklyn official with over a hundred years on the job that” the biggest issue is that officers are telling their friends and family not to bother with this task, perhaps as a jumping jewel,” ” You’ll be worked to the bone, attacked by perps and officials, and hammered with drivel problems and ticky-tack control”.
Despite having a lower starting income, a former officer claimed that his son would prefer to visit the Suffolk County Police Department than following in his father’s feet in New York City. “You’re never forced to work every New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July”, the officer said. ” You don’t have to worry about getting stabbed, photo, and then sued all the time”.
A late retired Brooklyn officer echoed these sentiments. ” I tell]young people ] if you can find another agency that’s willing to take you, I would go”, the 45-year-old said. If you could, I may run for the hills.
Mayor Eric Adams made a pledge in November to appoint 1,600 fresh soldiers by 2025. However, the town is facing major problems in finding practical candidates, according to a PBA director. Even if the office is able to recruit 800 police officers by the specific day of January 29th, it may struggle to find another 800 for a second school in April.
Just about one out of every eight test-passers generally meet the necessary mental and physical requirements. To replace 1, 600 college slots, the department may have a pool of almost 13, 000 candidates, which it now lacks, adds The Post.