Weeks after Mayor Eric Adams chastised police for doing precisely that, the New York Police Department has published new advice instructing officers not to hang about and socialise while on patrol.
Officers and supervisors are not permitted to “congregate, or engage in needless talk with other members of the service while on the post, lacking police necessity,” according to the new instructions issued on Tuesday and examined by the New York Post.
Patrol supervisors are instructed to “ensure that members of the service do not gather, or engage in needless talk with other members of the service while on post, absent police necessity,” according to another portion of the memo.
The letter was sent a little more than two weeks after a video surfaced online showing the mayor pausing while out on a Summer Streets bike ride to speak with a police supervisor.
In the video, which was shared on Twitter on August 6, Adams yells at the supervisors of the two policemen who are gathered together on a street corner.
Why not disperse so that we can place staff and assure safety? Adams remarks, “We have not been properly deploying our men.”
A spokeswoman for the mayor told the Post that he has already stated his support for the NYPD and that he “would fight every day to guarantee that they have the resources to accomplish their duties.”
The official stated, “This is a tactical issue that may present a danger to both cops and members of the public.” “This is precisely why the mayor and the police commissioner have discussed this matter several times, and they both believe that we can deploy our personnel more efficiently.”
However, once the new guidelines were released, police union members made the joke that there won’t soon be enough officers available for deployment since so many are resigning.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch told the Post that the directive was not required.
Because of the terrible working conditions and poor pay, there won’t be enough police officers to cluster anyplace in the city anytime soon.
The mayor has other challenges that he should focus on, according to a Manhattan police officer with more than 20 years of experience.
Worry about crime in the city, the unidentified officer said, not about police gatherings.
Worry about how out of control your transportation system is. ponder your shootings. Even in their own area, officers can’t even go around without having their asses kicked.
The fact that the agency is providing the advisory, according to Joseph Giacalone, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former sergeant in the New York City Police Department, indicates that it is having personnel problems.
He said, “They don’t have enough personnel.” ‘You can’t relocate officers to hot places and cover all these activities,’ someone said. Who’s left, you think to yourself after a while?
2,465 officers have reportedly submitted their letters of resignation as of this writing, according to pension fund figures acquired by the New York Post. This is a 42 percent increase over the 1,731 officers who did so during the same time in 2021.
While 1,098 police officers surrendered their badges despite not having yet received the full pension to which they are due after 20 years of service.
There were just 641 “early” retirees over the same time period in 2021.
Lynch urged staff to “admit” the issues the agency is having in light of these numbers.
Cops in the prime of their careers have decided they’ve had enough, which is the cause of this migration. In remarks posted on Twitter by the charitable organisation, he said that “they are departing for other chances where they are paid more, treated better, and have a higher quality of life.”
The NYPD has to stop attempting to rationalise away the manpower shortage. Admit there is an issue and assist us in resolving it,’ he advised The Post.
Lynch cited anti-cop attitudes and the difficulties of incarcerating criminals as the main causes of the departure.
He said that the 2020 changes, implemented by the previous mayors Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo, rendered it difficult for offenders to serve any kind of meaningful sentence in prison.
The Big Apple’s shocking crime numbers are becoming a problem for the agency. According to the NYPD’s most recent figures, overall crime is up about 32% over last year.
The number of robberies and assaults, which are up 43 percent and 22 percent, respectively, is clearly contributing to that rise.
However, this is not the first time the mayor has issued a direct directive to the NYPD to alter its behaviour.
Adams gave the order to start solo patrols in the subway system back in May due to an uptick in crimes. One day later, those patrols were abruptly changed when a detective was attacked while working alone on a Brooklyn subway station.
Following a video that seemed to show a male supervisor having a lap dance from one of his policemen at a pub, the NYPD then stated in April that it had officially banned amorous interactions between superiors and subordinates, ostensibly at the mayor’s request.