More than 100 detectives from NYPD retired in June and others 75 plan to file their papers this month, as many are frustrated by “revolving door” justice and rules that make their work difficult and instead promote impunity.
“This will have a great impact on the investigation of crimes… It will have an impact on public safety”, he predicted to the New York Post the president of the NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA), Paul DiGiacomo. According to him, police officers in general feel demoralized by the lack of support from local politicians.
While the pandemic, the anti-police climate and penal reform have been identified as factors that have triggered the crime in NYC, at the end of 2021 the city already had 10% less detectives three years ago.
At the same time the rate of homicide cases that are considered “solved” fell from about 74% in 2018 to only in 2021 through November, according to Colby Hamilton, a spokesman for the New York Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ).
Since the middle of 2020 there have been mass resignations in the NYPD and the trend has not gone down. At the close of 2020, more than 5,300 uniformed officers had resigned, withdrawn or surrendered their papers to leave, an increase of 75% with respect to the previous year, according to data from the department. Many were detectives.
Even in December 2021 the two main chiefs of NYPD called for his retirement, on the eve of the arrival of the new mayor, Eric Adams: NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and his deputy Benjamin Tucker. So far this year 100 detectives have retired , leaving the total number at about 5,600, which is almost 2, less than two decades ago.
“Detectives are retiring in historic numbers because they do not have the support of politicians, who care more about criminals than about the police and the New Yorkers they protect”
Paul DiGiacomo, President of the NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA)
“It’s simple,” DiGiacomo said. “Detectives are retiring in historic numbers because they don’t have the support of politicians, who care more about criminals than they do about cops and the New Yorkers they protect.”
There were 794 detective retreats during the height of the COVID-pandemic 19 in 2020, Y 395 in 2021. The Post also reported in mid-June that cops in general were leaving the NYPD in record numbers.
“Knowing me is knowing that I love the job inside and out, but it’s not the same job that I joined,” Jason Caputo (2022 said Tuesday. ), detective from Queens, who leaves after 18 years on the NYPD. He added that he had “had enough”.
“The no bail law was something important to me,” he said. “It’s not even really about fighting crime anymore. You arrest someone for assault with a weapon and then the person returns to the police station to retrieve property from him the next day. They are not locking anyone up, not even those with records”.
An unidentified detective from 44 years you have been in the NYPD since 2005 commented that you would like to submit your retirement documents. “If I could, I absolutely would,” she said. “I was born and raised in the Bronx and it has gotten so bad, so ugly. I take time away from my family to work on these cases and they don’t go anywhere.” He explained that he works with minors and that it is particularly frustrating when judges let offenders go free.
In the recent past, several factors that analysts, union leaders, politicians and citizens themselves have linked to the rise of violence are the controversial bail reforms in the state of NY in force since January 2020 with the support from then Governor Andrew Cuomo; the massive release of prisoners to avoid contagion by the coronavirus; the mental health crisis with more homelessness on the streets and the Metro; and the reduction of funds to the police promoted by the City Council and then Mayor Bill De Blasio.
Parallel to the anti-police climate and the withdrawal of funds, the mandatory anti-COVID vaccination mandate imposed by the local government in the fall 2022 prompted more to resign, even moving on to other police forces in the country.
An alarming report from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) warned that in 2020 NYC district attorneys refused to prosecute detainees at nearly double the rate of 2019, which left 6,550 suspects out of court. In total, the ex officio accusers dropped all charges in 16.9% of the 39,635 felony cases that were closed in New York City during 2020.
Impunity covers serious crimes and others considered “minor”. State laws made shoplifting a promising option for some criminals such as young Isaac Rodriguez of 19 years old and a resident of Queens, arrested 46 times for shoplifting in 2021.
In this framework a vicious circle has been created: many argue that the violence in the street and the subway have distanced them from New York, and with this, more abandonment and unemployment are generated due to the lower commercial activity in mostly corporate areas, such as Midtown and the Financial District, where today there are dozens of unoccupied stores.