Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a mayoral marketing campaign announcement on March 2, 2025.
Picture by Dean Moses
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the obvious frontrunner within the 2025 NYC mayor’s race, stated Sunday he would rent 5,000 new NYPD officers because the centerpiece of a public security plan he rolled out whereas visiting a Harlem church.
Cuomo informed congregants at Mount Neboh Baptist Church on March 9 that the NYPD’s rank-and-file as we speak, about 34,000, is smaller than it was throughout the Dinkins administration greater than 30 years in the past. The division has seen a latest exodus of officers retiring early and has leaned upon expensive extra time bills to maintain tempo with crime-fighting applications akin to a number of police surges into the subway system.
Nevertheless, the previous governor famous that the rise in extra time work has solely exacerbated the NYPD’s staffing drawback. Cops are getting burned out from their longer shifts and quitting early. In the meantime, he famous, town has spent greater than a billion {dollars} on police extra time.
“Police are getting burned out. Police are quitting. One of the highest attrition rates ever. And we can’t even attract new people to be police officers,” Cuomo stated.
The previous governor stated morale on the NYPD took one other hit on account of the “defund the police” motion within the early a part of this decade. Cuomo chastised those that supported such cuts as “pandering to the extremists.”
To resolve the issue, Cuomo stated, if elected, he would observe the instance of the late Mayor David Dinkins. Whereas dealing with traditionally excessive crime charges, Dinkins ordered a 40% enhance within the police drive in 1990, elevating the full variety of officers to a peak of 38,438.
Cuomo’s proposed hiring of 5,000 new NYPD officers would quantity to a 15% enhance within the present division headcount, bringing the full roster to roughly 39,100 cops — “just about equal” to the height NYPD depend within the mid-Nineties. However, the previous governor stated it could make a big distinction in not solely holding New York Metropolis protected, but additionally be extra economical for town.
“Because the overtime is so high, you can hire 5,000 new police officers for half the amount you’re spending in overtime,” Cuomo informed congregants. “And the police will have less burnout. There’ll be less attrition, [and it would] be easier to hire new police officers.”
The governor added that the extra cops would rightsize the NYPD to satisfy town’s inhabitants development over the past three many years. 1,000,000 extra New Yorkers now reside within the Huge Apple than throughout the early Nineties, when the NYPD had its highest variety of officers.
Cuomo additionally proposed altering the pay construction to offer common pay will increase to NYPD officers for his or her years of service, which might supply “a more attractive long-term career path for officers,” in response to his marketing campaign. Presently, new officers begin with an annual wage of $58,580, which may climb after 5 1/2 years of service to a aggressive base of $121,589 per yr.
Nevertheless, hiring extra cops shouldn’t be the one means to make sure public security. The candidate known as for offering further assets to assist younger, at-risk minority males between 18 and 24 years of age, whereas additionally forging stronger connections between the neighborhood and the NYPD.
“We have to give them a positive future. We have to get them a job. And we have to do a private employment sharing program,” Cuomo stated. “We have to get them apprenticeships. We have to show them that there’s a positive way forward. And of course, the police we hire have to respect the community, have to be disciplined. And there has to be a relationship of mutual trust and respect.”
