1,000 Officers Graduate From Police Academy

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly welcomed 1,013 new police officers into the department's ranks at their graduation at Madison Square Garden yesterday.

Mr. Bloomberg told the recruits that they would serve in the "world's greatest police force," and said that the New York City Police Department was a model for law enforcement agencies around the world.

"The skill and dedication of the NYPD have made New Yorkers safer than we've been in modern memory," Mr. Bloomberg said.

The new officers graduated after completing more than six months of training at the Police Academy. Of the graduates, 328 have previously earned bachelors' degrees, while 240 have completed associates' degrees. Additionally, 148 have military experience.

The new officers will be assigned to patrol troubled precincts as part of Operation Impact. The program, begun in 2003, sends first-year officers to work with veteran police in the city's most crime-ridden areas.