Rudolph Giuliani was introduced as "America's Mayor"
at the annual Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner at the Pierre Hotel
on Tuesday. While I did not support his campaign for the
presidency, I dearly wished he was still our mayor. He's always
had a great respect for New York's Finest, and he told me,
"I had the police force up to over 41,000 and I wanted it
even higher. I love cops." Well, the NYPD is in a staffing
and recruiting crisis that did not exist when Mr. Giuliani was in
office. Whose fault is that?
A retired police officer reported to me that a high-ranking
official told him that the department was dangerously
undermanned. Recruitment campaigns had failed, which was no
surprise, because who wants to risk their life for a salary that
doesn't even pay rent? I wrote a column pondering this question,
and since then I have been receiving urgent correspondence from
the rank and file personnel confirming that the department is in
trouble.
The latest mail came from a police officer, and details the
poignancy of the crisis. It reads, "The really sad thing is
that I like the job as most cops in the department."
Another officer wrote, "all of the cops at my command in
Manhattan are all waiting for the Perb decision, many of us
including myself are thinking about leaving and are on other PD
lists (about this is just a guess 25-40% are on other lists and
about half are talking about leaving the department."
The PERB is the Public Employment Relations Board that is
negotiating a contract between the Patrolmen's Benevolent
Association and the administration. Currently, the starting
salary for recruits is a little over $25,000, and goes up after
six months. Recently, a police rookie was caught robbing a bank.
There has been a wave of suicides, including one in Staten
Island, another in Manhattan North, and another from the Police
Academy.
On my way to the Pierre, I cornered several police officers to
discuss if the situation was as dire as my mail depicted.
"We save people's lives," one patrolman said
passionately. "We're on the front lines every day and we
deserve respect." Considering the excellent job done during
the Pope's visit, they certainly do.
The PBA has now announced that it will be advertising open and
higher-paying positions at neighboring police departments for
free to its members in an in-house magazine. Mayor Bloomberg
responded angrily, "It is a disgrace. Keep in mind: The low
salaries that our police officers get for the first six months
and really for the first five years are because the PBA wanted
that so that they could move more monies to the more senior
people in the agency."
That's no excuse, Mr. Mayor. We have several thousand fewer cops
since September 11, 2001, and national security agencies have
warned that terrorists have changed their tactics and are
utilizing homegrown recruits. The eyes and ears of local
enforcement agencies are vital to spot these lethal activities.
Yet according to the Mayor's preliminary 2009 budget, the city is
deferring hiring 1,000 new cops till 2010. This will save money
this year, but at what cost?
I spoke with the police department's deputy commissioner of
public information, Paul Browne, who confirmed that the
department has had trouble meeting recruiting goals. "Before
the 2005 cut, we had a waiting list of applicants, " he
said, but at that time starting salary for recruits was $40,000.
He also confirmed that the NYPD staffing is down about 5,000
since September 11, 2001. Mr. Brown echoed the mayor's statement
that the police union accepted the low recruitment pay so that
senior officers would be covered in the budget.
The murder rate is rising, though still far below the levels
reached during the Giuliani era, and those quality of life crimes
that were pursued by the Giuliani administration have been coming
back. The squeegee men have returned, and graffiti vandalism is
up in Staten Island.
The safety of this city should be our number one priority, and to
get it, we need to pay competitive salaries.