Exclusive | Nearly 2,000 NYPD cops quitting before getting full pensions -- a 71% jump from 2021 (original) (raw)

The NYPD is still hemorrhaging cops.

Ever-growing exodus figures show 2,465 police officers have filed to leave the department this year — 42% more than the 1,731 who exited at the same time last year, according to the latest pension fund stats obtained by The Post.

More disturbing is the fact that the number of cops hanging up their holsters early — before reaching 20 years for a full pension — has skyrocketed 71% this year from the year before (1,098 from 641).

Graduates at their New York City Police Department Police Academy's graduation ceremony.

More than 2,000 officers have left the NYPD so far in 2022. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the so-called “voluntary quits” are driving the “stampede” — and not a big academy class that graduated in 2022, as claimed last month by Chief of Department Kenneth Corey.

“We have had retirement waves caused by large academy classes before — they were nothing like this,” said Lynch.

“This exodus is the result of cops in the prime of their careers deciding they have had enough. … The NYPD should stop trying to explain this staffing crisis away. Admit there’s a problem and help us fix it,” he said.

Chief of Department Kenneth E. Corey speaks at a presser on the shooting death inside the subway system at Canal Street this morning.

Chief of Department Kenneth Corey had earlier claimed a big academy graduating class led to cops leaving the NYPD. G.N. Miller

In June, The Post reported that more than 1,500 officers had either resigned or retired.

Officers usually work 20 years or more to collect their full pension, which can equate to 50% of their final three years’ average salary.

Being New York’s Finest has lost its luster for many of the rank and file, who have endured anti-cop hostility, bail reform, rising crime and the city’s vaccination mandate — currently on pause.

President of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association Pat Lynch speaks at a press conference held at The Detectives Endowment building on Thomas Street on Monday March 15, 2021 in Downtown, New York City, USA. Hendricks son, Brandon, 17, was a promising high school basketball star was gunned gown by an unknown assailant in the Bronx.

NYPD Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said “voluntary quits” are driving the “stampede.” Stefan Jeremiah

Ticked-off members are taking other civil service tests and heading to police departments in Long Island and other suburbs or out of state, or joining the better-paying Port Authority PD.

“They are leaving for other opportunities where they’re paid better, treated better and have a better quality of life,” Lynch said.

Dave, who asked that his last name not be used, was a 30-year-old Queens cop when he quit this summer to take a private-sector gig after only seven years on the job. He said he was fed up with the “oppressive work environment.”

A general view of an NYPD arm patch in the Times Square section of New York, NY on August 7, 2021.

NYPD officers who work 20 years or more collect a full pension. Christopher Sadowski

“As soon as I left, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said. “And the sad part is that the job doesn’t need to be this way. I hear it all the time from friends who went to other police departments. They say, ‘They treat me like an adult here.’”