Who could have seen this coming?
New York City, where they fired cops for being unvaccinated, caved to BLMers who demanded less policing, hired Soros-backed DAs who let criminals run free, and then subsequently saw crime skyrocket is seeing police leave at an insane rate.
Again, who could have seen this coming?
The NYPD saw 3,701 cops retire or resign in 2022, the most since the post-9/11 exodus in 2002, when 3,846 cops said goodbye to the job, according to data obtained by The Post.
Pension fund numbers reveal the 2022 exits are 32% more than the 2,811 who left in 2021.
The mass migration took place as the NYPD hired 1,982 officers in 2022, leaving the department down some 1,700 cops, the data suggests.
In a city like New York, losing 1,700 cops is a catastrophe – especially considering that the cops who remain have been severely neutered by woke, pro-crime policies.
Bail reform, resentment for the city's vaccination mandate, the defund-the-police movement, cops feeling disrespected, and the lure of higher pay and lower stress proved to be the final push out the door for many cops.
"The city is bleeding blue and I think the blue line will get thinner," said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "At this rate, continued public safety weighs in the balance. I'd be more concerned at the resignations than the retirements. Cops are leaving for better pay, benefits, and working conditions..."
The burgeoning NYPD exodus began after the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25, 2020. Outrage triggered calls by Democrats to defund the police along with nationwide protests, and a number of NYPD officers became collateral damage.
The anti-police movement springing from the BLM riots was one of the worst things to happen to major American cities, and this is just the latest example.
Spero Georgedakis, 52, a former Miami SWAT team officer, and the owner of Good Greek Moving & Storage, works with the Florida PBA to assist cops in their relocation to the state.
He's even running ads to entice the troops to greener, sunnier pastures.
"It's heartbreaking what's happening [to the job in NYC]," said Georgedakis, who grew up in Queens wanting to be NYPD. "I still have friends and family in New York. They [the cops] are literally handcuffed and disrespected. It's almost like cutting off your own nose to spite your face. You need the police. You need law and order."
Said NYC PBA president Patrick Lynch: "Mayor Adams has said he wants to improve police officer morale and boost the NYPD's headcount. The time to do that is now. The mass exodus is already significantly impacting NYPD operations. If it continues any longer, it will totally erase the public safety gains we've made over the past year."
