NYPD Matters to Every Cop in the Nation

Forget the FBI: the NYPD leads the nation in authentic policing!

Aug 22, 2023

a nypd police car parked on the side of the road — Photo by Jalen Banks on Unsplash

It has been a brutal season at the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the largest local police agency in the world. Leadership departures and new appointments are just part of the story. The agency that tamed crime in the 1990s is losing the battle in ensuring public safety and addressing disorder.

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Crime is worsening

Petit larceny is up 40 percent over the past two years in New York City; misdemeanor assault rose 39 percent; and grand larceny auto grew over 97 percent. All these categories continued to rise over the past year, even as some bail-qualifying offenses declined, like homicides and shootings. So far, 2023 has seen 2,263 more misdemeanor assaults than during the same period in 2021. Under Hochul’s proposed change, those assailants still could not be jailed pretrial.

Staffing remains the immediate concern

“Bleeding Blue” is an article headline that describes the core challenge of the department. Attrition exceeds recruitment. In an agency with a sworn authorized strength of 36,000 officers, it is demoralizing to see a staffing gap of nearly 2,000 officers and growing.

Based on the first two months of 2023, the NYPD is likely to continue bleeding blue. In January and February, 239 officers left—almost 40 percent more than in the same period in 2022, and a 117 percent jump over 2021. If the pace keeps up, the department could lose more than 5,000 officers this year, which would make 2023’s exodus the largest since at least 2002, when more than 3,800 cops left after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The New York Post reports: “The NYPD staffing emergency is approaching the point of no return,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch. New York City’s Finest are also bailing because of what they consider anti-cop politics, woke bail reform policies that make criminal justice a revolving door and low wages. How can you effectively recruit when mandatory hours are increasing while safety is decreasing?

white and blue ford f 150 — Photo by Campbell Jensen on Unsplash

No friend in Mayor Adams

Mayor Eric Adams, the pro-police and anti-crime candidate in the last mayoral election has severed the connection between the mayor and police commissioner, relegating public safety to a deputy mayor. Adams, who has had a successful political career following his retirement from NYPD as a captain has created a dashed line on the organizational chart. Recently, he allowed a subordinate to bypass the chain of command to introduce a reduction of physical standards for new police recruits, undermining his appointed commissioner, and then providing a soft landing to the former deputy chief by making her chief of the corrections department.

The New York Post reports: “The NYPD has again lowered its requirement for police recruits, scrapping a timed, 1.5-mile run in the police academy, the department’s head of training told The Post. The controversial move — which training Chief Juanita Holmes said will help more women applicants make the cut — sparked an intra-agency battle between Holmes and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell that Mayor Eric Adams had to settle. Without the timed run, the only physical fitness criterion for NYPD hopefuls is the Job Standard Test, a multi-step course that needs to be completed in 4 minutes and 28 seconds.”

Perhaps Mayor Adams received glowing annual evaluations during his career at NYPD, but it is nearly impossible to find anyone he worked with to say anything positive about his work ethic, attitude for the job, or any significant accomplishment either administratively or operationally. Recently, a video of him came to light making boastful claims of domination over another ethnic group, crackers, in the department while serving as a sworn officer. He has also made waves comparing himself to Ghandi.

people walking on pedestrian lane near vehicles — Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash

NY City Council and Public Advocate support police abolition

The New York City Council and the elected New York City Public Advocate have introduced legislation that will disincentivize every officer from taking any proactive steps to address crime.

The New York Post reports: “The City Council is preparing to pass a sweeping package of bills that would force the NYPD to file millions of reports on even the most minor encounters with New Yorkers, The Post has learned. One bill pushed by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams — Intro. 586-A — would require officers to file a report on all low-level “police-civilian investigative encounters.” These are instances where the person the police officer is engaging is not considered a suspect or being stopped, questioned and frisked.”

New York doesn’t have an unusual city government. It has a functional federal government. The city council operates as a legislative branch with the ability to pass legislation for the mayor’s approval or veto, but they have the ability with a strong majority to override his veto.

Comparing New York City to nations, population-wise it would finish about mid-pack, perhaps at 104 out of 210. It would wedge in between the nations of Sierra Leone and Laos and here is a brief list of nations with smaller populations than our first city:

Lebanon 6.8 million

Denmark 5.7 million

Finland 5.5 million

Norway 5.4 million

Ireland 4.9 million

Panama 4.3 million

Due to a declining population in the city since the 2020 census, the NYC population exceeded Israel and Switzerland three years ago. Once put into perspective, the parliamentary aspect of the city’s government makes greater sense. Smaller governmental units have the luxury of passing ordinances and resolutions on community priorities. The importance of the issues is equal. The scale is different.

a group of police officers standing around parked motorcycles — Photo by Toms Rīts on Unsplash

Union Square: Chaos on a grand scale

If you watch the video from the air and on the ground, a distinct pattern emerges. This crazy destructive event can neither be blamed on a social media influencer or an intelligence failure on the part of the police. A mob of middle school aged and older youth, all waving their smartphones in portrait mode, were empowered to throw so much loose debris at uniformed police officers that cops were using scraps of plywood as shields, and those exposed needed hospitalization for their injuries.

Older depraved youth took high positions and led crowds in profane chants, directed at the police, with a chorus that would make a Satanist blush. Field force backup cops had to lob gas and smoke to move the crowd. I don’t know how much was promised. Some reports spoke of gaming computers, a Sony PlayStation 5 and a number of $100 gift cards. So far, no one has alleged any giveaway valued higher than $10,000 and reasonable estimates peg the value at far less than that. The NYPD was probably costing ten grand a minute with citywide resources responding including rescue and EMTs.

Don’t blame anyone other than terrible parents. This is a degree of negligence that must be addressed criminally.

I’m confident police leadership is taking measures to ensure that when this happens again, as both the youth and influencers are now emboldened, there is a change in strategy. Hopefully a lot more buses, many more arrests, and a Faraday cell phone seizure vehicle. Let rioters know that they will get out of jail or juvenile detention, but their phone is going to be downloaded at their expense with a court order preventing them from getting a new phone.

At the same time and very concerning was that the new commissioner, Caban, was at One Police Plaza receiving resignation letters that he solicited from his executive staff, during this stage four mobilization, most serious, where your street cops are using improvised shields to provide protection from mobs of violent youth. His officers were taking rocks and bottles from rioters and he were showing the most experienced leaders, several who wanted to stay, the door.

At least we know what to expect from him in the future.

Please keep all our officers in your prayers, but especially NYPD officers.