Group Says Low Salaries Force Police Exodus

Low police salaries have forced 1,769 officers to quit over the past two years, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association said yesterday.

In the same period, resignations increased 42%, growing to 902 in 2006 from 635 in 2004, union officials said.

"The 1,769 fully trained officers who quit during the past two years could staff nearly a dozen New York City precinct houses," the union's president, Patrick Lynch, said in a statement. "They NYPD and the city of New York have a serious problem. They can't keep the police officers they have and they can't recruit enough good quality candidates to keep staffing levels up."