Staffing at New York City courts has plummeted to “bleak” levels — potentially endangering judges, jurors and the public in what the union president called a “powder keg” situation.
The New York State Court Officers Association says that up to 35% of posts are unfilled in the city and that applications have plummeted from over 110,000 a decade ago to only 28,000 in the most recent exam — a drop of over 70%.
That translates to more violence, more officers out on injuries and less justice, as low officer staffing numbers means fewer courtrooms can operate at a time, the union and a longtime court officer said.
Shawn Hobson, a recently retired officer, told The Post that unless something changes, the future of the city’s courthouses looks “bleak and very dangerous.”
So many officers have left for other departments, Hobson said, that nobody takes a lunch break, and judges have to rush through their daily slates of cases since low staffing enables fewer courtrooms to operate at a time.
The pressures from low staffing also means increased risk of errors in security screening, Hobson said, where they frequently confiscate weapons like knives, guns and, once, a hand grenade.
New York State Court Officers Association president Pat Cullen, a sergeant with 25 years under his belt at Bronx Supreme Criminal Court, said the decimated staffing levels are especially dangerous in criminal courts because of frequent fights between people looking to settle scores or rough up officers.
That violence can include slashings, stabbings and even shootings, putting judges, jurors, attorneys and others at risk.
In January alone, court officers responded to a nearly fatal stabbing inside a Manhattan Criminal Court hallway.
“Imagine if there were 10 or 15 fewer officers on that day — would he have died?” Cullen said. “If we don’t feel safe at work, how is the public supposed to feel safe?”
Both the union head and the recently-retired longtime court officer blamed controversial “Tier 6” pension reforms instituted by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo for decimating the ranks.
“Cuomo has been nothing but an enemy to the working people, though he would like to imagine otherwise,” said Cullen.
Hobson said Tier 6 destroyed interest in what was once a competitive and desirable job.
“Morale is horrible, it used to be a really good job,” said Hobson, who retired last summer after 27 years — and two years after a violent Brooklyn Courthouse incident resulted in seven surgeries, including a full knee replacement.
“People just are not happy anymore,” he said. “People are retiring, and a lot of people are out hurt, which leaves the numbers very low in some buildings.”
When implemented in 2012, Tier 6 slashed pension benefits and raised the retirement age by nearly a decade — regardless of how many years served on the job.
That means a 21-year-old court officer starting out who could have retired after 30 years of public service now had to work 42 years.
“The job is not attractive any more,” Cullen said, who added that salaries also haven’t increased to reverse the decline of applicants.
“At the end of the day, it’s Tier 6,” he said. “The chickens have come home to roost.”
Cullen said the union has been trying to stanch the bleeding by moving two dozen officers who volunteered to transfer to Brooklyn Criminal Court — a “powder keg” with a “massive gang problem” — but claimed that the state Office of Court Administration is blocking the effort.
“We went through the proper channels to make a severely dangerous situation better,” Cullen said, adding that the situation is so bad, the union made a website to advocate for the transfers.
Over the last 18 months, over 620 officers have joined the court system, according to OCA spokesperson Al Baker, with another class of 250 recruits scheduled to begin at the end of June.
“These new recruit numbers are extraordinarily high and without precedent,” Baker said. “Uniformed supervisors are constantly reviewing staffing levels in all of our courthouses and, where appropriate and permissible under civil service laws and rules, adjusting staffing levels.”
A longtime Cuomo aide said Tier 6 was created 15 years ago “when there was a real fear of municipal bankruptcy.”
“Now the issue is retention,” said spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, whose boss — the frontrunner in the Democratic mayoral primary — has since declared he will take dead aim at the results of his own policy.
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