Blue cities that lost historic numbers of police officers beginning in 2020 have yet to recover due to far-left, anti-police policies, a top leader of the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) said. 

“Police officers aren’t stupid,” Joe Gamaldi, the FOP’s vice president, told Fox News Digital. “They realize that their far-left city councils and mayors will throw them under the bus at any opportunity.”

He referenced several cities where staffing numbers have fallen “off a cliff” since 2020, including Chicago, New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. 

Riot police officers scuffle with demonstrators during the rally “March on the DNC” on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Aug. 19, 2024.  (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Police officers aren’t coming back, either, according to Gamaldi. 

Smoke rises from a fire on a police cruiser on May 30, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)

“And I think if you need any further evidence of just how bad the crisis got, you still have departments in California offering $100,000 to sign up, and they still can’t fill the cadet classes,” he said. “Because folks know, they’re not stupid when they apply for these police departments. They know what places are gonna support them, and the other ones that are gonna throw them under the bus.”

Los Angeles had 9,852 sworn officers in mid-2020. That number has dropped to 8,738 this year, a total loss of 1,114 cops. 

In October 2019, the NYPD welcomed a 900-person recruiting class to a force that had about 36,900 officers a year earlier, according to the New York Post.

Just this month, the NYPD gained 1,093 newly sworn officers, bringing the city’s total to 34,455, the Post reported. Even with that boost, the force is still down nearly 2,500 cops from about five years ago. 

Measured in terms of experience, Gamaldi said police forces have suffered unimaginable losses from which they might never recover. 

Demonstrators march to protest the death of George Floyd in the South Bronx on June 4, 2020, in the Bronx borough of New York City.  (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

“You’re looking at hundreds of years of law enforcement experience walking out of the door to go find other employment or retire,” he said. “Who’s going to train the next generation?”

To claw back officers, Gamaldi said police departments have lowered their training standards, which will have a ripple effect that lowers the quality of police work. 

“And if you think those chickens aren’t coming home to roost, I assure you they will in a few years,” he said.