NYPD Recruitment Down

According to NY1 News, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has called the NYPD's recruitment problem the "biggest labor issue facing the city."

Kelly told the City Council's Public Safety Committee yesterday that he has only been able to fill about 700 of the City's 2,800 open positions. The reason enrollment of New York City police officers is way down may be due to a low starting salary of about $25,000 per year. Rookies are opting for the suburbs where the salary is sometimes double.

According to WCBS, last year the NYPD hired 2,983 but lost 3,290 officers to retirements, resignations, and attrition. This constitutes a total loss of 307 officers.

The Patrolman's Benevolent Association (PBA) says bus drivers, gardeners, and city sanitation workers make more money than New York City Police officers.

Commissioner Kelley says he does not know about that and exit polls of officers do not prove a connection between lower pay and drop-out rates.

Both Kelly and Pat Lynch, President of the PBA, agree, however, on the severity of the problem. Kelly says the "lack of manpower could have an impact on the department's crime fighting efforts" and Lynch says that the low pay "undermines the safety of New Yorkers."

Yet, the New York Daily News has reported that Lynch is the reason for the problem. "There are two ways for a labor leader to win pay hikes: negotiation or arbitration. Throughout his eight-year tenure, Lynch has resorted to the drawn-out, unpredictable process of arbitration. In fact, he has never settled a contract over the bargaining table," they say. Lynch's refusal to make concessions has caused members of the PBA to be two contracts behind firefighters. The NYPD could reap raises totaling 14.15% and eliminate the disgracefully low $25,100 rookie salary imposed after Lynch's last arbitration by making small concessions. The Daily News further asserts that "more money would be available were the PBA and City Hall able to agree on additional cost savings or imaginative management reforms. But none of that can happen unless both sides start talking - over the table."