Police Cadets Prepare for 'Urgent, Complex Mission'; 1,107 Take Oath, 200 to Follow
By TOMMY HALLISSEY

Young recruits stood at attention July 8 at Queens College as Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly presided over the swearing-in of a new class of 1,107 NYPD cadets.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE: Members of the new Police Academy class take the oath of office as a prelude to starting six months of training before being deployed in the NYPD's Operation Impact.

"Today these individuals join an organization whose reputation for excellence is known throughout the nation and around the world," Commissioner Kelly said. "The Department's three-fold mission to fight crime, combat terrorism and build cooperative community relations is at once urgent and complex. We are fortunate to have a team of 36,000 highly accomplished professionals carrying out this mission every day, and having sworn their oath of office, our new recruits will also be entrusted with these opportunities."

Mayor Seeing Stars

Mr. Bloomberg welcomed the new recruits with a nod to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game to be played at Yankee Stadium July 15. "Here in New York we have our own all-star team, and I'm talking about the greatest crime-fighting lineup in the world: the NYPD," he said. "Looking out at all our rookies today, I see the future law-enforcement stars, the Jeters, the Riveras and the Billy Wagners of tomorrow."

The Mayor also spoke of how crime has dropped more steadily in the city than in the nation as a whole, according to an FBI report for 2007. He said New York City, with more than 8 million residents, is safer than all but 15 of 241 cities with populations greater than 100,000 in the United States. Crime today is 30-percent lower than it was seven years ago, the Mayor said. "But we are not about to rest on our laurels," he told the recruits.

'Public Will Look to You'

Commissioner Kelly said likely all of them upon completing their Police Academy training would join Operation Impact, a program that pairs rookie officers with experienced supervisors and deploys them to targeted high-crime areas. Operation Impact has brought crime down by double digits in targeted areas.

"The public will now look to you for their safety, for their peace of mind," Commissioner Kelly said. "You'll be ready in six months to patrol the streets of this great city."

Roughly 200 additional recruits will be inducted in late July because they were held up for reasons including that they are currently just shy of their 21st birthday. Paul J. Browne, chief spokesman for the NYPD, said that with the extra cadets the department would reach the new authorized headcount of 36,838, 1,000 below the number budgeted for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

On June 19, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch demanded the restoration of $16 million in funding to the current fiscal year's budget to hire 1,000 new Police Officers. Police Commissioner Kelly told the City Council in March that he was reducing the department's headcount by that many as part of a mandated budget cut and noted the NYPD would have had trouble meeting the old target because of recruiting problems.

'Pay Raise Not a Panacea'

Mr. Browne said even with a higher starting salary to attract recruits that resulted from the PBA's May contract arbitration award, the NYPD would stick with the 36,838 headcount. "In light of the real estate and financial sector crises, and the resulting projected impact on city revenues, all city agencies received budget cuts," said Mr. Browne. "While the new arbitration award increased starting pay somewhat from the radical reduction in the prior arbitration, it wasn't a panacea. Staring pay is still nearly $5,000 lower than the previous high of over $40,000. Despite that fact, we were able to recruit enough officers to meet our new, lower authorized headcount."

The PBA arbitration award raised starting Police Officer pay from $25,100 to $35,881. One thousand thirteen men and women graduated from the Police Academy on July 2.

The new class is 52.6 percent white, up from 49 percent in the just-graduated class. The number of Hispanic recruits dropped from 30 percent to 26.9 percent. African-Americans in the recruiting class dropped from 14 percent to 10.8 percent, while the percentage of Asian-Americans rose from 5 to 7.6 percent. The cadets hail from 49 different countries, including Iran, Kuwait, Ireland and Guyana. Nearly 17 percent of the cadets are women.

Mr. Browne cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from ethnic fluctuations in one class, pointing out that other recent classes were in the 26 to 27 percent range for Hispanics.

As the cadets filling the Colden Center for the Performing Arts readied themselves for the start of training, Commissioner Kelly sent them on their way by saying, "You have made a great decision. Your future is very bright."