Exclusive | NYPD detectives finding more reasons to retire early — including huge OT opportunities

Hundreds of veteran NYPD gumshoes are leaving the force, stoking fears that cases and criminals will fall through the cracks, The Post has learned.

The NYPD saw 370 detectives retire in 2023 and 422 so far in 2024, a 14% increase, NYPD data show.

The number of detectives has shrunk 30% from about 7,000 in 2001 to 5,500 this year.

Detective Kim Cenizal, 47, has been with the crime-scene unit for 11 years and plans to retire in January and move south with her family. Michael Nagle

“You’re losing all the people who have the experience,” said Detective Kim Cenizal, 47, who has been with the crime-scene unit for 11 years and plans to retire in January. “All our cases are major and have bad guys who should not be on the street for one reason or the other.”

Ironically, the exodus has been prompted by a boon in overtime pay.

Mayor Adams flooded the subway with cops as crime underground surged.

Overtime pushed an average detective’s pay from a base of about $115,000 to $200,000 or more with OT.

Because their lifetime pensions are based on their final year’s pay, many detectives are finding they cannot afford to stay.

But many fear less-experienced investigators means more cases falling apart in court. 

The NYPD’s solve rate hovers just below 50% for new homicides each year.

“That’s a lot of the reason why I don’t want to leave,” said Cenizal. “But the reasons to leave outweigh it.”

Klein has taken advantage of recently offered overtime every weekend. J.C. Rice

Bronx Homicide Detective Robert Klein, 45, has found himself working more overtime than ever after 20 years on the job.

“There’s literally overtime you can volunteer for every single weekend, and I’ve taken advantage of that,” he said.

The dad-of-four has been working five days a week investigating murders and then dons his blue uniform to police the subway one day on the weekends.

“If I slow down the overtime right now, my pension number will start to recede,” he said. “And you know this pension is not just for me. It’s for my family, for my children. It’s an investment and I’ve spent more than 20 years in the police department.”

The number of NYPD detectives has been decreasing since 2000 with attrition and a lack of new hires. New York Post
The exodus of detectives has been prompted by a boon in overtime pay. Paul Martinka

Subway crime has dropped 7% this year, but subway murders are up 80% with nine so far this year, NYPD data show.

Mayor Adams vowed this week to bring on another 1,200 new cops to the force. That new manpower could lead to a decrease in OT for detectives — making the time to retire even more ripe.

Klein also frets about what liberal pols will do to the policing profession in the future.

He cited the “How many stops act,” which requires him to keep track of the age, sex and race of every witness he interviews in his cases, “so it can be weaponized against the police department.”

“Are we going to continue to legislate against the police department?” he asked. “It just doesn’t seem like it’s headed in the direction of good, solid policing.”

Det. Canavan with his dog outside the 6th Precinct in the West Village. Helayne Seidman
Det. Kevin Canavan and his canine partner Joey outside his bomb squad truck at the 6th Precinct in the West Village. Helayne Seidman

Bomb Squad Det. Kevin Canavan worries about the future of his 32-person unit, which has 24 members with more than 20 years on the job.

“It would decimate the bomb squad if we were to just up and leave,” he said.

The Detectives Endowment Association is pushing legislation that would change the pay system so detectives’ pensions would be based on a final three-year average, union officials said.

“Our most experienced detectives are retiring,” DEA President Scott Munro said. “We do not have enough people to get the job done. NYC residents are paying the price for overwhelmed and understaffed squads.”

Detectives’ Endowment Association President Scott Munro is pulling for legislation that would base pensions on the average of detectives’ final three years on the job. Courtesy of the Detective Endowment Association
Retired NYPD forensics detective Ed Nusser, who investigated thousands of shootings. J.C. Rice

Retired Detective Ed Nusser, 45, left Ballistics in 2022 along with 508 other detectives — a year that was dwarfed in retirements only by 2020, when more than 800 detectives left at the start of the pandemic.

“When I first got to the unit, you had more detectives with over 20 years than you did under 10,” said Nusser, who investigated thousands of shootings. “Now, of the 45 or so detectives in the unit only two remain past their 20.”