New York State legislators propose bill to address officer shortage

NEW YORK STATE — At a time when many area school districts are asking for additional police protection in schools, area police forces are experiencing “crisis” levels of attrition and struggling to find qualified candidates to fill those and other positions.

Police officers in New York are eligible for retirement after 20 years of service. When they retire, many of these retirees, often in their mid-forties, leave New York because they can continue working full-time in law enforcement in other states while still receiving their pensions. In New York, however, retired police officers are prohibited from earning more than $35,000 in law enforcement while receiving their pensions.

“We’re currently in a crisis never seen before or experienced in law enforcement,” said Cicero Police Chief Steve Rotunno, citing record attrition and all-time low recruitment. “If we don’t hold on to our retirees, we may be faced with the reality that we can no longer adequately protect the communities we serve.”

Assemblymember Al Stirpe and Sen. John Mannion announced a bill Oct. 13 that they hope will help remedy the officer shortage. The new law would increase the cap on earnings for retired officers from $35,000 to $65,000 to encourage these officers to return to the workforce.

 Flanked by chiefs of police from about a dozen area communities, Stirpe said he learned of the problem when he received a letter from Rotunno in late September. He drafted the bill and contacted Mannion to sponsor the legislation in the Senate.

When asked for a show of hands of who is experiencing staffing challenges, each of the dozen or so police chiefs raised their hands.

“They’re usually 40 or 45 years old. They still have kids, families, and they need to make a living,” Stirpe said of the recent retirees. “Unfortunately, a lot of them leave New York. They go to other places where there are no restrictions, but I think a lot of them would stay and a lot of them would continue to work in law enforcement.”

North Syracuse Police Chief Bill Becker recounted conversations he’s had with law enforcement officers in other states, who regularly hire retirees from New York.

“Rhode Island calls them ‘New York Wonders,’” he said.

Other states love to hire New York retirees, Becker said, because they have excellent qualifications and 20 years or more of experience.

Mannion said that school resource/police officer positions are the “ideal” job for a retiree. Because they work on the school schedule, they get holidays and summers off as well as built-in vacations throughout the year.

Mannion suggested that a program like this could be helpful in other public sector industries to encourage retirees to continue working in areas like teaching and social services which have severe worker shortages.

“It’s a smart policy to make it as easy as possible for these respected members of our community to take a job, earn a paycheck, and continue their service to the people of Central New York and across the state,” said Mannion. “It’s government doing what it’s supposed to do — solving problems and protecting our communities.”

SRO and SPO positions aren’t the only opportunities that would be available to retirees. Joe Cecile of the Syracuse Police Department said his department uses retirees to monitor the video feeds from cameras placed in high-crime areas.

“They not only have solved homicides for us, they have prevented homicides, but we only get them two days a week because we have this cap,” Cecile said. “This would allow us to have them full time and it would be a huge game-changer for us.”

Cecile said the Syracuse Police Department lost 57 officers last year to retirement, and the pipeline of new officers is just not sufficient to meet those losses.

“We have a class in the academy right now with four people in it,” Cecile said. “This is definitely forward-thinking 101.”