NYC Needs More Cops But Applications Are Way Down

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New York City has lost a lot of police officers lately, to the point where the current number of cops on the job is the lowest seen since around 1990.

The number of NYPD cops on the job this year and last is the lowest it’s been in more than three decades – with about 200 cops leaving each month, according to data obtained by The Post.

The current NYPD headcount is 33,695, just 154 more than last year — and the lowest since 32,451 in 1990, stats from the department and city Independent Budget Office show.

The problem is getting worse as retirements this year have surged 11%.

Mayor Adams is attempting to counter this surge in retirements by bringing in 1,600 new officers this year. The problem with his plan is that a lot fewer people want the job. Prior to the pandemic the NYPD had around 18,000 candidates interested in available positions. Now that number has dropped by half.

Prospective members of New York’s Finest went from 18,000 in 2017 to just 8,000 this year — a 55% decline, according to data from the Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union…

The general rule is that one out of every eight candidates pass the test and meet all the other criteria. So to fill 1,600 academy slots, a pool of almost 13,000 candidates is needed.

In order to make up that shortfall the academy is reaching out to people who passed the required tests as long ago as seven years. But the really bad news is why the number of applicants is down. Cops are telling candidates to look elsewhere and avoid the NYPD.

“The biggest problem is that cops are telling their friends and family not to bother with this job, even as a stepping stone, because it’s not worth it,” a Brooklyn cop with more than a dozen years on the job told The Post.

“You’ll be worked to the bone, attacked by perps and politicians and hammered with nonsense complaints and ticky-tack discipline.”…

One Brooklyn cop who retired recently said he advises young people against joining the department.

“I tell them if you can find another agency that’s willing to take you I would go,” the 45-year-old said. “I would run for the hills if you can.”

Run for the hills is what some young people interested in becoming cops are doing. County cops earn less money starting out than the NYPD but they also don’t face the same pressures. As one NYPD cop whose son is going for a county job told the NY Post, “You don’t have to worry about getting stabbed, shot and then sued all the time.”

Not mentioned in this story is the reason all of this is happening. Back in 2020 Black Lives Matter successfully turned a lot of mayors, city councils and regular people against the police. Since then cities that tried to defund the police have struggled with retention and attracting new officers. In Portland, which had nightly riots in protest of the police, the situation is even worse than in NYC.

The bottom line is that a lot of people who were doing these jobs, facing the threat of violence on behalf of regular people, did it partially because the job came with a certain amount of public trust and respect. Now that that’s gone the job just isn’t worth it for a lot of people who would rather find a less dangerous position in a place where police are still appreciated, i.e. not a big blue city. The decline in police applicants in NYC is a reflection of this reality.