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AGENCY TESTIMONY
NYPD hiring efforts and expanded eligibility requirements
0:21:41
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111 sec
Commissioner Tisch details the NYPD's efforts to increase hiring and expand eligibility requirements to address the department's staffing challenges.
- Highlights the 11% drop in NYPD uniformed headcount over the past seven years
- Describes the expansion of eligibility requirements, including reducing required college credits from 60 to 24
- Presents statistics showing significant increases in new applications and reopened cases
- Outlines the goal of reaching 35,000 uniformed officers by fall 2026
- Provides hiring targets for 2025 and compares them to previous years' hiring numbers
- Emphasizes the benefits of increased headcount, including less overtime and better service for New Yorkers
Jessica Tisch
0:21:41
But it is no secret that we need more of them.
0:21:43
And as I have said before, this is not a budget problem.
0:21:47
We have the will and we have the means.
0:21:50
But lately we do not have the applicants.
0:21:53
The result is an 11% drop in NYPD uniformed head count over the past seven years.
0:21:59
It's simple.
0:22:00
More cops on patrol make our city safer.
0:22:02
Hiring 1,000 recruits in January of this year was a good start but it was not nearly enough.
0:22:07
So we expanded our eligibility requirements reducing the number of college credits needed to apply from 60 down to 24.
0:22:14
This brought the NYPD more in line with modern standards since most of our peer agencies do not require any college credits at all.
0:22:22
Those changes took effect in February and the impact was immediate.
0:22:26
In the past few months more than 12,600 new filers have registered to take the police officer exam and more than 4,000 previously ineligible applicants moved to reopen their cases.
0:22:38
Daily applications are up 75% going from an average of 56 per day up to 98.
0:22:45
And about 4,100 people have registered for the next police exam.
0:22:49
This gives us a fighting chance to reach Mayor Adams' goal of 35,000 uniformed officers by the fall of next year, a head count that we haven't seen since 2022.
0:23:00
Our department's goal is to hire about 35 new officers in 2025 continuing the year over year increases from the 2,041 hires in 2022, '2 thousand three hundred and fifty six in 2023 and '2 thousand six hundred thirty one in 2024.
0:23:16
This is good news for our city but we need the news to be even better.
0:23:21
Increased headcount means less overtime, less stress in our workforce and better service for New Yorkers.
0:23:26
I am confident that we can get there and we appreciate the mayors and the council's support in this effort.