NYPD Runaway Policewomen Under Scrutiny Due to Anti-Cop Climate and Sexism

New York’s top women have plenty of reasons to be blue — and they’re expressing their displeasure by quitting jobs in alarming numbers, union data obtained by the Post shows.

Attrition data shows that 33% more female NYPD officers (521) retired or retired in 2022 compared to 2021 (392), and the number of retired officers was 72% higher than in 2020 year (303).

There were no numbers for this year.

The NYPD’s 6,807 women make up 20% of its 33,971 officers.

They say they’re not only dealing with anti-cop rhetoric and low pay like their male counterparts, but they’re also struggling with pressure and notions in the department to fit in with men.

“Definitely morale is low,” said one female officer patrolling near Rockefeller Center on Friday.

The NYPD leadership is focusing on “what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong, instead of making sure we’re all right,” she said. “Instead of making sure we are taken care of, the bosses just care about how they are perceived.”

She added: “We [women] more research than men. Since there are fewer of us – a smaller percentage – the male policemen look at us like we can’t do the job. This is the men’s section. . . . Such is the reality. This is what we have to go through.”

Policewomen feel they have to go the extra mile to prove they belong, according to one senior female officer.

“There is always a feeling that we have to do more and work harder,” she said, but added that she hopes things are changing.

“Conscious efforts have been made to have more women in leadership positions,” she said. “I like how [Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell] behaves. It’s very important when someone like you is in charge of the department.”

However, Professor Gillian Snyder of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a 13-year veteran of the NYPD who retired in 2019, told The Post that Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks are damaging morale, ” without giving [Sewell] worthy place at the table”, thereby undermining her authority.

“They didn’t give her enough platform to exercise her own decision-making capabilities,” Snyder said. Sewell’s appointment “was a groundbreaking moment for women in the NYPD, and it’s discouraging that she can’t fill the role she was assigned to.”

One example was earlier this month when the NYPD canceled a timed 1.5-mile race for academy recruits – against Sewall’s wishes.

“I think the former [NYPD training] Chief Juanita Holmes treated Sewell disrespectfully. She walked around the office of the commissioner of police and went straight to the mayor. We are a small percentage of officers and we have to stick together,” Snyder said.

“Women are still mostly relegated to the background, playing secondary roles in the department, taking on more mundane duties,” said Cathy Johansen, an upstate police officer with over twenty years of experience and president of Women in New York Law Enforcement. , whose members include the NYPD.

“And there is still background noise if they are promoted – is it because they are the most qualified, or are they fulfilling some unspoken need to show the world that the department is gender neutral? It’s a shadow that always follows you.”

The firing of women in the NYPD probably isn’t as bad as it could be, she suggested.

“Some of these women can’t just get up and leave,” she said. “Not everyone can just run to Florida. You have family obligations, you have responsibilities.

“So a double whammy for a male-centric profession and all the stressors that come with it… now the public either ignores you or openly mocks you and then you don’t get the support of your administration. You are being hit from all sides. These women go through a lot.”