New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) said the record-setting exodus of officers from his city's police force provides an opportunity to "diversify" the department's ranks.
"No, it does not [concern me]," Adams told Good Day New York on Monday when asked about the more than 1,500 officers who have either resigned or retired from the New York City Police Department this year. "We got an amazing recruitment campaign coming in. This is a great opportunity to diversify the department."
The NYPD's data on its racial makeup show that the force is already representative of New York City's diversity: The department is 44 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 15 percent black, 10 percent Asian, and less than 1 percent American Indian.
The number of officers leaving the NYPD has surged this year, with departures from the force up 38 percent from the same period last year, according to the New York Post.
Adams, a former police captain, attracted controversy earlier this year when comments he made during a 2019 speech about his white colleagues in the NYPD resurfaced.
"I kicked those crackers' ass," Adams said. "I was unbelievable in the police department."
Adams's comments on Monday come just days after the mayor approved a budget proposal that would keep police funding flat, even as New York City has seen a roughly 30 percent uptick in its crime level since last year.
Adams on Monday boasted that the city's budget increases will go toward park maintenance and sanitation.