During an interview with LI News Radio on Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) stated that there is a decrease in the number of NYPD officers and “people are not opting for these careers anymore, and part of it may be the fact that people have been very negative and derogatory toward police officers in the last few years.”
Hochul stated, [relevant remarks begin around 2:45] “Our forces are down. Sometimes, recruitment is hard. I’m finding the same thing with even corrections officers and state police, but people are not opting for these careers anymore, and part of it may be the fact that people have been very negative and derogatory toward police officers in the last few years. And so, as a young person thinking about what career they want, do they really want to go into this? And we have to restore the nobility associated with careers in law enforcement.”
She continued, “My husband was a federal prosecutor working with police for 30 years and my son’s a prosecutor, and so, we are a strong law enforcement family and support them, but they need to feel supported by the community as well. But I agree with you, we need to increase the ranks of NYPD. There’s — they are the best and without a doubt, and they need to have more reinforcements, which is why, when it came to a spike in subway crimes last year, I took state money, which is unprecedented, to cover the overtime costs of NYPD on all the overnight trains.”…