UPDATED: What's The Incentive For Big City Cops To Stay?
There's a chilling article in the NY Post about the rate at which cops are bugging out--retiring, taking disability, leaving for greener pastures where they'll be appreciated and will be able to do their job without Leftist harassment:
Are NYPD officers rushing to retire amid city’s anti-cop climate?
The answer to that one is a total no-brainer. Of course they're rushing to retire--or, if not yet eligible, to find some other way out. Wouldn't you? This should give an idea of how bad things are:
More than 5,300 NYPD uniformed officers retired or put in their papers to leave in 2020 — a 75 percent spike from the year before, department data show.
...
The departures and planned departures of 5,300 officers represents about 15 percent of the force. Already, as of April 5, the NYPD headcount of uniformed officers has dropped to 34,974 from 36,900 in 2019.
...
"Cops are forming a conga line down at the pension section and I don’t blame them," Giacalone said. "NYPD cops are looking for better jobs with other departments or even embarking on new careers."
Who thinks the situation is any better in Chicago, with its Soros State's Attorney Kim Foxx? It's not. Or in Philadelphia, with its insane Soros DA, Larry Krasner?
You know the chilling statistics. Philadelphia had 499 murders last year, the most in three decades. And it wasn’t because of the pandemic. The city’s murder rate has steadily risen in each year of both Jim Kenney’s mayoralty and the tenure of District Attorney Larry Krasner.
This year, though, we’ve jumped the shark. We’re on pace for over 600 murders—the most ever. An Inquirer story last week laid out some even more disturbing findings.
More disturbing? Really? Really :
Since Krasner took office, the number of gun crime arrests has nearly tripled, but the conviction rate for gun crimes has plunged from 63 percent in 2017 to 49 percent in 2019. In January, I reported that, under Krasner, homicides have jumped a whopping 58 percent; just 21 percent of shootings since 2015 led to criminal charges, and less than one-tenth of those resulted in convictions.
And Dems want you to believe that we should disarm the law abiding portion of the citizenry!
Anecdotally, one of my sons witnessed a local hearing in which the defendant was being set up to get off with community service. He had been arrested for possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Community service--that'll stop him from doing it again! But there was a bit of a problem arranging the next hearing because, as the lawyer told the judge, his client had a federal hearing that same day!
Here's the view from New York--what the Left is doing:
Giacalone expects a "long, hot summer ahead," — with the City Council vote to remove qualified immunity from the NYPD — making it far easier to personally sue a cop and turning "the job [into] … a minefield."
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch told The Post, "The Mayor and City Council are absolutely trying to abolish the police. They’ve kept our pay absurdly low. They’ve ratcheted up our exposure to lawsuits. They’ve demonized us at every opportunity. And they’ve taken away the tools we need to do the job we all signed up for, which is to keep our communities safe.
"Now the NYPD is spending money on slick recruiting ads to replace the experienced cops who are leaving in droves. City Hall should just admit the truth: police abolition-through-attrition is their goal. They won’t stop until the job has become completely unbearable, and they’re getting closer to that goal with every passing day."
As it is, you can bet that most cops who can't bug out are largely going through the motions, avoiding anything that looks like it could cause them trouble. They should risk their lives and freedom for people who elect officials like DeBlasio? If the next election doesn't change things big time, the Big Apple and similarly situated cities could be going down the tubes.
UPDATE: As I understand this, the message is, Get out while the getting is good :
Lawmakers in New York introduced joint legislation Saturday that would ban police officers who are forced to resign or are fired over disciplinary issues from being rehired in another jurisdiction in the state.
"Accountability is a must," state Sen. Brian Benjamin, a Democrat who is proposing the bill, told CBS News.
Police officers must be held to a higher standard because of their "power and the privilege to enforce the law," he said.
Don't wait till you're accused of something--bug out now!