New York City Police Department officers are retiring at a pace the department can’t keep up with, forcing filing limits to be implemented.
The number of police officers filing retirement papers has surged in the weeks following the death of George Floyd on May 25 and has quadrupled in the past week. The surge has caused a bottleneck, prompting some to delay filing, according to the New York Post.
A total of 503 officers have reportedly filed for retirement between the day Floyd died and last Friday, a 75% increase from this time last year. The amount of filings in the last week represents a 411% increase from last year, which has forced the department to limit filings.
A line of officers was spotted outside the office where police officers file for retirement, according to the New York Post. One officer said, “Apparently, the pension section is only taking a certain amount of people per day, and I think they are backed up till late July, early August.”
“That’s why you don’t see like 100 a day, because they are only doing like 35 to 40 a day, by appointment.”
The department says it is not denying any cops who retire in the next 30 days but has told those who want to retire after that to hold off on filing until they are a month out from when they wish to retire.
The relationship between police and city leadership has become increasingly strained over the last several years and exacerbated by turmoil in the wake of Floyd’s death.
The turmoil has been inflamed by hundreds of officers being injured, the city’s recent decision to defund the NYPD by $1 billion with the mayor’s blessing, a controversial bail reform program, a significant surge in shootings, the slashing of overtime, the disbanding of the NYPD plainclothes unit, and a growing anti-police sentiment in the country.
“There’s just droves and droves of people retiring. But there’s no surprise here, who the hell wants to stay on this job?” one officer said about the retirements, which the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins, referred to as an “exodus.”
“There is no leadership, no direction, no training for new policies,” Mullins said. “Department brass is paralyzed [and] too afraid to uphold their sworn oath in fear of losing their jobs. Sadly, the people of this city will soon experience what New York City was like in the 1980s.”
“Why put your job on the line when no one appreciates you or has your back?” one police officer said about the situation.
