Bleeding blue: Why active NYPD cops say police response times for New Yorkers in need are getting longer

The NYPD is facing a historic rate of attrition, as amNewYork reported in August. An average of 300 cops per month have quit or retired this year. But rank-and-file members still on the job tell this publication that the mass exodus is also causing slow response times, according to reports, while battling an overwhelming workload.

According to the Mayor’s Management Report, which was released last week, the current average response time is 14 minutes and 53 seconds — which is a 90-second improvement from the average of 15 minutes and 23 seconds in fiscal year (FY) 2024. But over the last half-decade, according to the same report, response times have steadily grown longer by a large margin.

Between FY2021 and FY2025, police response times lengthened by three minutes and 13 seconds — roughly 27.6% higher than the 11-minute, 40-second response time reported four fiscal years ago.

The document also shows that response times to non-critical crimes in progress have jumped by an extra nine minutes since 2021, making the average response time a whopping 28 minutes and 28 seconds. Serious crimes leapt to almost three minutes longer.

An NYPD spokesperson responded by noting the response time decline between 2025 and 2024, which they said was due to the department’s strategy of personnel development while also bolstering its numbers.

“In August, the NYPD hired nearly 1,100 police officer recruits, marking the largest class of officers sworn in by the NYPD since January 2016. Including this class, already this year, the NYPD has hired 2,911 recruits — the highest number since 2006 — with another class still scheduled for this year. The NYPD remains laser-focused on continuing our recruitment efforts and bringing in the next generation of officers,” a spokesperson said.

Still, those on the job today say the impact of months of attrition is evident to their observant eyes.

Sean, an officer from Brooklyn with a decade of experience who spoke to amNewYork on Tuesday under the promise of anonymity, said that his stationhouse has lost about 30% of cops since he got on the job, leading him and his colleagues to struggle to do more with less.

“Ten years ago, we would have had more resources working in the precinct, with more physical cars. So, there would be, literally, instead of one car patrolling one area, it would be two, which is a total of four officers,” Sean said. “Let’s say you have to get there quickly, you try to assess the situation. ‘Okay, this doesn’t really need police.’ And then you’re kind of rushing, you know, you try to analyze, try to determine, Okay, do they really need me right here?”

NYPD cops ‘are not getting a break … literally’

Sean says with fewer cops on the beat, people not only have to wait longer when they dial 911, but the cops themselves work hours of overtime without even getting a lunch break, forcing them to eat while inside their squad cars.

“Guys are not getting a break. It’s literally, ’oh, I’m sorry, check back in an hour, or check back when this person comes back from the transport.’ Or ‘check back, maybe we’ll have more guys at a certain time.’ And then sometimes it doesn’t happen,” Sean railed. “So, you’re literally eating in the car. You’re eating on the run, you know? And so the public may see a cop literally sitting in the car eating and say: ‘Oh, this guy isn’t doing anything,’ but they don’t know that I didn’t even get a break.”

Sean charged that situations like these are why many of his colleagues are calling it quits and taking jobs in other jurisdictions due to what he called quality-of-life issues within the NYPD. Exhaustive overtime, missed lunch breaks, excessive workloads, and disrespect at work have all contributed to an average of 300 cops calling it quits each month and, in turn, racking up response times.

Cops say the public is being made to wait longer for help.Photo by Dean Moses

A Police officer at a crime scene.Photo by Dean Moses

Next one out the door

James, another cop working in Brooklyn with two decades on the force, stated that help can’t come soon enough, going as far as to say the public deserves better than what the NYPD is currently providing.

“We’re out here to do the best job we can. It’s just the circumstances that we’ve been presented with. I think we’re doing the best we can, but it’s frustrating for all parties involved. This is not the police department the city deserves. You know, they deserve the best we can give them, and right now, this is the best,” James told amNewYork. “It’s rough keeping pace with everything going on.”

James presented a similar story to Sean’s, explaining that his precinct lacks the manpower it had just two years prior, leaving the public waiting for what he says can be hours.

“We just don’t have the officers to get there and then, as we’re battling through normal calls, now a priority comes over. So, if I’m at your house to deal with a report that somebody broke into your car, now mid-job, I’m rerouted to another priority, and now I’m going to finish that and hopefully get back to you eventually,” James said. “The biggest frustration, I think the public has is for what the department deems is a non priority call, you could be waiting two hours just to get an accident report done, and I’m going to spend the first five minutes of our interaction trying to apologize and explain that it wasn’t just I didn’t want to come, it’s every time I get close by I get rerouted.”

James said that veteran cops are taking these frustrations from both the public and their supervisors and hanging up their uniforms for greener pastures, whether that be Suffolk County or elsewhere. He added that he would also be leaving in the near future.

“I don’t want to say it’s always financial, but a lot of times it’s more about the quality of life. So, if you could offer me a position doing reasonably the same amount of work and my days off are going to be my days off, and where I’m not always ordered for mandatory overtime to just cover the loss of personnel that we have, I might jump,” James said. “At this point, when it is my chance at the turnstile, I’ll be the next one out the door.”

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry charged that the staffing crisis in the department is not only making the cops suffer, but the public’s life-or-death cries for help could go unanswered for longer because of it.

“When New Yorkers need help, every minute spent waiting for police to arrive can feel like an eternity. The NYPD’s staffing crisis has extended those agonizing wait times to unacceptable levels. Police officers are already under enormous pressure. They are being deprived of meal breaks and days off to cover for short-staffing, and that strain is driving even more talented cops out the door. Response times won’t meaningfully improve without improvements to police officers’ quality of life and compensation to help keep them on the job,” Hendry said.

A police officer salutes.Photo by Dean Moses