NEW YORK — Members of the NYPD grew so disenchanted with their jobs in 2020 that over 5,300 uniformed officers either retired or quit, an astonishing 75% increase over the year before, amounting to 15% of the total number of officers on the force. The impetus for the officers quitting seemed to be the death of George Floyd and the unrest that followed; between May 25 and June 24, 2020, a whopping 272 officers left the agency in one month.
There were 2,600 officers who resigned and 2,746 who filed for retirement, according to the New York Post. The 5,346 officers who left the force were nearly 2,300 more than left the department in 2019, when 1,509 officers resigned and 1,544 filed for retirement.
This year, over 830 officers have left the NYPD, Daily Wire reported.
In March, the New York City Council voted for various police reform bills, among which was one to eliminate giving qualified immunity to the NYPD, thus permitting citizens to sue police officers for excessive force or unlawful searches and seizures.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik reacted to the City Council’s decision, asserting, “No police officer should work in a jurisdiction where they do not have the support of those they work for. Beginning today, I will no longer recommend young people consider the NYPD as a career.”
