Graduates Join NYPD’s Ranks
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More than 1,200 police academy graduates yesterday joined the ranks of the New York Police Department, part of the first departmental expansion in more than a decade.
Announced in late March, the expansion will add 800 officers and 400 civilians to a depleted police department. It is the first expansion since 1993, and aims to reverse the decline in the department’s head count since 2001. As of June 1, there were 37,038 officers, according to police records.
Presiding over the graduation ceremony with Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, “Our new police officers are to be commended for their selfless choice to serve the public and protect New York City at a time when we need them most.”
Yesterday’s graduating class of 1,213 officers was slightly larger than the graduating class in January, when 1,121 officers graduated. The class is smaller than last July’s, when 1,582 officers graduated; in December of last year, 1,735 officers graduated.
Mr. Kelly and representatives of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association have pointed to a drop in police officer salaries as a key factor in the decreasing number of police officers.The starting salary is $25,100 during their first six months of training in the academy, and $32,700 upon graduation.
