New "voluntary quits" data shows New York Police Department officers are leaving the force in a "stampede," according to NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch.
It is a flashing alarm on how bad it is to be a New York City police officer amid rising crime after years of social unrest and calls to defund the police, the New York Post reported.
There have been 2,465 NYPD officers leaving this year to date, a 42% increase from the 1,731 that left by August last year, pension fund data shows.
More alarmingly, those leaving before reaching full pension at 20 years is up 71% (1,098) from this time last year (just 641).
Lynch took exception with the NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey claiming the exodus is due to a large graduating class from the police academy.
"We have had retirement waves caused by large academy classes before — they were nothing like this," Lynch told the post. "This exodus is the result of cops in the prime of their careers deciding they have had enough.
"The NYPD should stop trying to explain this staffing crisis away, admit there's a problem and help us fix it."
There have been almost 1,000 NYPD officers that have resigned or retired since the June report in the Post, including many giving up reaching 20 years for their pension benefits that could give them 50% of final three years' average salary.
The Post cited "anti-cop hostility, bail reform, rising crime," and the now-paused vaccine mandate as the reasons for the mass resignations.
"They are leaving for other opportunities where they’re paid better, treated better and have a better quality of life," Lynch told the Post.
A 30-year-old Queens cop quit after just seven years on the job, citing the "oppressive work environment."
"As soon as I left, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders," the officer, who only gave his name to the Post as Dave, said. "And the sad part is that the job doesn't need to be this way. I hear it all the time from friends who went to other police departments. They say, 'They treat me like an adult here.'"
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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