NEW YORK, NY – Policing in any generation or location is difficult since the public, as should hold all in the profession to a higher standard.
While every generation of law enforcement has seen its ups and downs, a recent group of graduates for the NYPD was aptly warned by their mayor, telling them they all face “unprecedented scrutiny.”
Policing in the United States has seen its ups and downs throughout the years, from the civil rights era, Rodney King, and Ferguson. But none of these had quite the impact as the death of George Floyd and the defund the police movement that followed.
Mayor Eric Adams warns NYPD grads that the system is working against them, “The Governor is not on your side, Lawmakers are not on your side, Prosecutors are not on your side, The Judges are not on your side The media is not on your side.” https://t.co/Nk7y58diBG
— Blue Lives Matter 💎 (@RetiredNYCPD) October 17, 2022
Now, in many liberally run cities, law enforcement agencies are decrying that they have lost the support of their elected leaders and prosecutors, something noted by Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer. During a graduation ceremony for 617 new NYPD and 20 MTA officers, the mayor noted:
“[In the past] lawmakers were on your side. Judges were on your side. Prosecutors were on your side. The media was on your side. Everyone was on your side. That’s not the reality we’re in right now. You are under unprecedented scrutiny.”
While Mayor Adams was quick to throw lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, and the media under the bus for not supporting the NYPD and other members of law enforcement, he was not as quick to offer any solution to the problem.
The mayor is quick to throw words of support and disgust when a member of his police agency is hurt or killed, yet not as fast in terms of coming up with solutions to address the lack of support and rising crime rates in the city.
And yet, Mayor Adams gave yet another show of support without a plan to address the root issues by saying:
“We are going to take our city back. There’s a reason you’re called the finest. Despite all the criticism, we’re going to stand up.
“When you stop terror, when you stop terrorism, when you stop gun violence, when you stop all the issues that are facing this city, it cascades across the entire country.”
If this clown Mayor ( who was never a “Cop”) was serious- he would’ve told the graduates “I have your backs” bc the politicians don’t. @davidwebbshow @rosannascotto https://t.co/3SbF0HcdHN
— E-Man-Detective4LifeAgain (@RicoRic30563203) October 18, 2022
Mayor Adams went on to encourage the recruits to be proud of the career path they have chosen but noted that there will be some that will work to undermine not only the profession but also the officer. The Mayor said:
“When you don’t get it perfectly right all the time, they put you on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and try to demonize you, saying you are not suitable to do your job. I’m here to tell you today that you are more than suitable to do your job and you would have the support to do your job – but it’s not easy.
“There’s something noble about putting on a bullet [resistant] vest and standing on street corners and running into the face of danger only to be critiqued. But don’t allow the loud noise to displace the energy and spirit that people feel for you every day.”
While the mayor’s words are correct, he left an important point – there are those in the public that will not only attack officers when they are wrong but also when they are right.
Take, for instance, the two Atlanta Police Officers who were beaten, and injured, and then had a suspect, Rashard Brooks, attempt to fire a Taser at an officer during a foot pursuit.
When one of the officers fired his weapon, as he was most likely trained to do, he and his partner were arrested and charged with several felonies, including murder. While the arrests were later overturned and a special prosecutor cleared the officers of any wrongdoing in the case, the truth did not matter, only the narrative that cops were bad did.
‘You’re like a zombie’: Mass exodus of cops from Chicago PD because of burnout, targeting of police
Officers with the Chicago Police Department are not only facing a significant staffing shortage, but they are also fighting against officers who have been working forced overtime and having their vacations canceled becoming burned out.
While burnout is dangerous in any profession, it is significantly more dangerous when a police officer faces the complacency that tends to come with that condition.
Burnout can cause various issues, ranging from not really listening to what someone is saying to officers quitting because they have had enough. CBS spoke to a former police officer who left the profession, in part, because she was burned out.
Hurley’s decision came after she realized the cost of working constant overtime which left her feeling like a “zombie.” She said:
“It was like Groundhog Day, You’d go to work, you’d be there 12-plus hours. You’d come home, you’d sleep, you’d eat, you’d do it again.”
That constant work and the stress that comes with it caused her to no longer feel connected to her wife and two young children. She said:
“You’re like a zombie. You’re not even coherent. You’re kind of just going through motions.”
“I gave up a full pension. I gave up a nice paycheck. I gave up insurance and pretty much almost everything that I loved once. I gave that up for something else.”
Hurley is one of the thousands that have left the Chicago Police Department either through retiring or simply quitting and moving on to another agency or like her, another profession. The shortage of police officers has caused the Chicago Police Department to work overtime in recruiting officers to replace those that have left.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown has noted the staffing shortage but has lauded the successful recruitment efforts of his agency, but also notes the agency is significantly behind in terms of replacing the number of officers who have left the agency since 2019. Brown noted that by saying:
Until Brown and the Chicago Police Department can fill the vacancies in the agency, burnout for the officers will remain a real concern, something that Chicago FOP President John Catanzara noted when he spoke to the Chicago Tribune:
“Fact: cops are burnt out, they are not getting that needed time off, and they absolutely don’t have enough support from this mayor or superintendent. Period.”
After initially denying that officers were working up to eleven days straight without a day off, Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Brown implemented a policy that requires police officers’ time off. On August 29th, Lightfoot said:
“We know that we’ve got to make sure that there is a process by which officers have time off. Tired, emotionally wrought officers is not good for them, not good for their families, and not good, frankly, for the community members they’re serving.”
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