Police officers are retiring in abnormally large numbers as anti-racism and anti-police protests continue to sweep around the major US cities.
Since the death of George Floyd on May 25th, 272 NYPD officers have retired by June 24th – a 49% increase compared to the same period last year.
Insiders have disclosed to the New York Post that the flurry of retirements can be attributed to the intense anti-police sentiments that have peaked since the death of Floyd while he was under police custody. Calls for defunding the police have made officers worry about the future of the department.
One source said that the city council either seems uninformed or negligent in taking into consideration the outflow of its uniformed officers, which is more likely to outsize fresh incoming officers.
This means that there may be a shortage of officers during the interim period between the current policing system to the new law and order system that protestors have asked for – a dangerous vacuum that can easily be abused and put residents in grave danger.
Pro-police voices have spoken against this trend, characterizing it as dangerous. While they agreed that the officers themselves are the first to admit that there is too much task given to the police, making the job undesirable would be a result everyone wants to avoid.
One executive has observed that the morale of the 36,000 large organization is the lowest he has seen in the past 36 years he has worked in the department. He warned of an “exodus”, saying that 80 members in his organization have decided to hang their boots.
A police union leader bluntly said that it is no surprise more people want to quit a thankless job where the officers have to put themselves in danger on a daily basis.
The union representative also shared his harsh observations on the performance of the higher executives, saying that their ineptitude will reverse the progress the city has made since the 1980s in crime reduction.
Some cops in the fields said that they felt like innocent passerby who is suddenly targeted by a nationwide hatred for the police, noting that the faults of one police department can’t be applied to all the officers.
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Replaced!