Being a police officer is especially hard in the “Defund the Police” era.
New York, like many blue cities, is struggling to find new recruits and, ultimately, citizens will face the ramifications.
In 2023, the NYPD expected to see approximately 3,000 Police Officer Exam takers. Instead, there were only about 1,300 despite the Department waiving the $40 exam fee.
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“The NYPD’s best recruiting tool has always been word of mouth,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry told The Post. “But right now the word is, ‘Stay away.’”
The NYPD has given between one and three exams per year over the past several years.
Back in 2017, 18,463 people took two exams.
In 2019, 14127 cops sat for just one exam. In 2022, the NYPD had only 6,489 test takers for three exams — a stunning 65 percent drop from 2017, police sources said.
“We thought it would be better after the contract, but it’s not,” a law enforcement source said.
The low interest comes at a time when record numbers of officers are retiring and others are being recruited to states like Florida.
Additionally, bail reform laws coming out of Albany are making it even more difficult for police.
The “Less is More” act, gives more leniency to parolees and removes reasons to put parolees back behind bars.
According the the New York Post, “It removes technical parole violations like being late for an appointment, missing a curfew or finding alcohol or drugs in urine samples. And the act would speed up the timeframe to judicial review for any violations.”
The Post continues, “One problem is cops aren’t encouraging family members to join the NYPD because they don’t want them ‘putting their livelihood or safety at risk to enforce laws that the City Council and Albany don’t want enforced,’ Hendry said.”
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