Detectives leaving the NYPD raise concerns of brain drain

Law enforcement and police union officials said they fear that the NYPD is undergoing a brain drain as experienced detectives are retiring in large numbers, partly out of concern over looming overtime reductions they say will hurt their pensions.

The department saw an exodus in 2024 of more than 450 detectives, according to data from the NYPD and the Detectives Endowment Association. While the NYPD said that only 24 detectives have retired since Jan. 1, Scott Munro, president of the union, said that 280 of his members have filed for retirement.

Department officials said they are closely monitoring the attrition and are trying to address the loss of officers who retire or leave.

One solution is to increase the NYPD headcount up to 35,000 officers in the years to come, officials said.

Addressing the question of attrition in general last week during her State of the NYPD speech, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the wave of departures stemmed from a hiring spree 20 years ago in which the city brought in about 2,000 officers, many of whom are now reaching retirement age.

"What is happening now is that a huge class is now eligible for retirement," Tisch said. "It is not unexpected."

The commissioner acknowledged the city is having difficulty in getting applicants. "We are practically begging people to take the [police] exam," she said.

Tisch didn't address the issue of detective attrition or the effect lessovertime has had on retirements. 

The retirements are costing the department seasoned investigators who possess a wealth of institutional memory and experience that can’t be replaced overnight, Munro said in an interview. "I need experienced detectives to show younger detectives on the job how to do things," Munro said. "Patrol [duty] is a lot different then being in a detective squad."

Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant supervisor in the detective bureau who now teaches criminal justice at Pennsylvania State University, agreed that a loss of experienced detectives is a problem.

"In the detective squad, you have old guys teaching new guys," he said. "It cannot be replaced in the classroom environment."

A driver of the detective retirements, said Munro, was the peculiarity of the pension system that calculates a benefit based on a retiree's last year’s compensation, including overtime. The so-called Tier 2-a pension level is the one that uses that calculation, and about 2,700 current detectives are in that level, he said.

So if a detective with over 20 years experience found that his overtime drove his pension calculation higher, the incentive is to leave the NYPD, especially if overtime will be restricted under Tisch, Munro said. 

"These guys have to leave," agreed former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "The overtime is legitimate."

According to Munro and other police union officials, overtime required in 2024 because of Mideast war protests, subway crime surges and summer anti-crime initiatives drove up the extra pay and individual officer pension numbers. But now with Tisch taking a hard look at overtime, in part because of an overtime scandal involving the former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, officers worry that the big overtime paychecks will dry up.

Former NYPD detective Anthony Chow, a 21-year veteran who worked with the drug enforcement task force, said his last year of compensation with overtime added gave him what he called a "significant" boost in his annual pension. But when he started seeing overtime drop off, he retired in June.

"At a certain point they started to cut overtime, it affected my pension [negatively ]," said Chow in a phone interview. "To protect my pension I had to retire."

In the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the NYPD had about 7,200 detectives, but now — according to the official — the level is down to about 5,200. The NYPD said the current detective strength, which includes the rank of detective specialist, is at 5,325, up slightly from 5,161 at the same time in 2024.

A diminished number of detectives on the job means individual caseloads have increased. Certain Bronx precincts have detective caseloads numbering over 500, Munro said.

"You have to watch caseloads, because if you're overloaded the quality suffers. It could compromise investigations," Boyce said.

During the most recent round of promotions, Tisch promoted close to two dozen detectives. But they are lacking experienced veterans to guide them, Giacalone said.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry, who represents about 22,000 uniformed officers, said regular officers have their own pension issue that is driving some away to other departments.

Many newer NYPD officers hired after July 2009 are lumped into a pension level known as Tier 3, which takes away certain pension benefits available to almost all other police departments in the state, according to Hendry and the PBA.

The disparity is prompting NYPD officers to quit in greater numbers even before they hit the normal retirement age so they can go to higher-paying jobs, Hendry said. According to statistics, some 5,100 officers have quit before their normal retirement age or resigned from 2021 to 2024.

"Both police officers and potential new recruits know they can find less pressure and better benefits in almost any other policing job in the state," Hendry told Newsday.

A spokesman for the Suffolk County Police Department said the department has hired 132 officers from the NYPD in the last two years. Det. Tracey Cabey said the Nassau County Police Department has hired 74 NYPD officers during the same period.

A new contract in 2023 raised NYPD starting base pay to just over $52,000, and city and police officials hope it can encourage recruitment. Currently, the NYPD has 33,500 officers, and privately police officials said that even with new police academy classes that authorize about 1,000 recruits, the department is struggling to hold that headcount. 

Both Hendry and Munro say they are lobbying city and state officials to revamp police benefits and the pension system. One change, said Munro, would allow a detective’s pension to be based on an average of the three last years of service.

Munro said that he plans to meet with Tisch to discuss the loss of detectives and ways to enhance the pension system.

"I am only thinking about the future here," Munro said.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.