Longtime members of the New York Police Department are considering leaving the force or retiring as socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves to cut overtime spending.
Longtime members of the New York Police Department are considering leaving the force or retiring as socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves to cut overtime spending.
According to a report by The New York Post, more than half of a significant portion of the department’s workforce is already eligible for retirement. More than half of officers assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force qualify for retirement, along with thousands of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains.
About 55 percent of JTTF detectives have at least 20 years of experience, enough to leave with a full pension. The NYPD currently has 5,121 active detectives, 23 percent of whom are also eligible for a full pension. Union data also shows that about 42 percent of lieutenants could retire, and 66 percent of captains.
Police officials and union leaders warn that cuts to overtime could accelerate those exits, as veteran officers weigh whether to retire now rather than risk a lower pension in the future. Officials hired after 2000 receive pensions based on roughly half of their final year’s earnings, meaning a reduction could impact benefits.
“If they have a big overtime year, they have to go,” Scott Munro, Detectives Endowment Association President, told the outlet. He noted that a perceived lack of support from Mamdani, who has expressed anti-cop sentiment in the past, is also driving exits.
“What’s happening is people are getting in our police officers’ faces,” Munro said. “They’re harassing them out there in the street.”
After taking office, Mamdani highlighted the city’s “budget crisis,” noting that New York City faces a $12 billion budget shortfall over the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. When asked in January if the city is considering NYPD cuts, he said at the time the city was “not entertaining the idea.”
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