Thirty-one NYPD officers, who should have been screened out of the hiring process, were suspended on or about Thursday, July 10. One of the officers has resigned. This sticky situation began in 2023 and 2024 when the, then potential recruits, either lied on their applications or provided disqualifying information, yet somehow, they completed the process, the training, and became officers.
What happened? It depends on who you ask. CBS News New York reported this:
“Police sources tell CBS News New York the 31 officers were hired between 2023-2024, and the applicants in question had multiple disqualifying offenses, including allegedly:
Lying about criminal convictions
Lying about previous arrests
Lying about being terminated from previous jobs
Multiple arrests
Criminal summonses
Driver’s licenses suspended due to significant traffic violations”
The City of New York Police Department (NYPD) is entertaining the notion of firing some of these officers. One has resigned already. But since this is a case involving officers who have been on the street for up to two and a half years, they’ve racked up some arrests. At least one of these officers has received an award for their service. For now, the arrests aren’t being challenged because the probable cause an officer develops must be affirmed by an assistant district attorney.
Another key detail that the department alleges was that the Candidate Assessment Division commander performed overrides on character and psychological evaluations. This commander has been reassigned to housing while the department considers discipline. In fact, the conversation has turned to how under state law, it may be illegal for the NYPD to have hired some or all of these ‘officers’ and illegal for NYPD them to retain them as sworn officers.
The Police Union
One of my friends worked for the union defending officers subject to discipline. Some were easier to defend than others, but their role was not to excuse their violation or defend the behavior, but to make sure that the officers were treated fairly and equitably according to the law, the officer’s bill of rights and the current bargaining agreement. A bureau commander asked him once at a discipline hearing, ‘how can you represent these guys?’ and his answer was stunning: ‘we didn’t hire these guys – you did – and we are just making sure you don’t treat them unfairly.’
The PBA police union did not sit on the sidelines but instead secured an emergency injunction stopping the NYPD from firing any of the suspended officers. NBC reports:
‘A state judge has granted a temporary restraining order preventing the NYPD from firing police officers who it claims were hired in an “improper process.”
In a statement, PBA President Patrick Hendry said: “We grateful for the pause in these unjust firings, but this is only the first step. These police officers did nothing wrong. It is not their fault that their hiring was tainted by a rogue inspector and arbitrary process. In many cases, they were initially disqualified for minor issues and may have been hired on appeal if given the opportunity to do so. Many of these police officers have served with distinction. some have even received awards for their work protecting their communities. All we are asking for is the fair process they were denied, so they can continue to show who they truly are. These dedicated officers have already proven their value. They must be treated like the professionals they are.”’
NYPD pre-existing challenges
The last thing the NYPD needed was another challenge. The policies that management has pushed down to the officers have been a disaster. Poor restraint policies turned what should have been quick, decisive arrests into chaotic and sometimes ridiculous viral videos. Meanwhile, the failure to contain violent rioters—by not directing them into a controlled area—led to unnecessary disruption for both commuters and emergency responders. When so-called protesters are able to block the bridges and tunnels of an island, NYPD management proved that the protesters were in control. Years ago, criminals didn’t dare commit a deadly assault on New York cops. Last year I wrote:
The attacks on NYPD officers have been happening for years. In 2014, a murderer targeted and killed two NYPD officers sitting in their car on a detail. It was the first shooting death of a NYPD officer in three years in the largest municipal police department in the world.
The Associated Press reported “…he approached the passenger window of a marked police car and opened fire, striking Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in the head. The officers were on special patrol in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.” Tragedy struck again in 2017 when another unprovoked attack took the life of another NYPD officer filling out reports in a command vehicle. Then, pre-COVID we had the community dumping buckets of water on officers.
On November 11, 2023, a NYPD lieutenant was slashed twice in the face breaking up a knife fight on a subway in The Bronx. Days later, two NYPD officers on November 13, 2023, also in The Bronx responded to a complaint of a group of people smoking in a non-smoking area. Local news reports : “…when the officers asked the group to put out their cigarettes, they refused. As the officers were removing them from the station, the group fought back.”
City Journal Editor Rafael Mangual writes: “For years, my colleagues and I have called attention to the destructive policies that city and state officials have proposed and enacted. We’ve warned that those shifts would embolden offenders, make police more vulnerable, and put residents at risk. The Times Square episode is an amalgam of the obvious and expected effects of just a few of those policies.”
There has been a mass exodus of officers for years. In 2024, about 3,000 officers quit or retired and only about 2,400 replacements were recruited. Mandatory overtime and despite published reports, a 9% increase in serious crime, contribute to diminished morale.
Scandals and lawsuits are swirling around One Police Plaza—from allegations of sexual misconduct involving Chief of Department Maddrey to accusations of bribery in the promotions process. The situation has escalated to the point where FBI agents in blue windbreakers are showing up at officials’ homes, demanding access to the personal devices of the department’s leadership. It’s been hard to watch.
I asked Lt. John Macari (NYPD Ret.) for some insight. He shared with me:
“In an effort to attempt to meet hiring and diversity quotas, the NYPD has made a concerted effort to lower standards for recruitment. They lowered physical standards, criminal history standards and even psychological standards to achieve these goals, citing these as “barriers” to hiring a diverse workforce. Even after lowering standards, they have still not been able to meet hiring goals so they decided to override candidates who could not make the cut as it relates to criminal history and even overriding candidates that failed the psychological exam.
Since this insane practice has gone public the NYPD is now actively trying to scapegoat one inspector and a few candidates even though the inspector was not alone in engaging in this practice that has been going on for some time and these officers who were hired are similarly situated to other officers who were also given overrides. The NYPD is again like during the vaccine mandate arbitrarily picking and choosing who can stay and who must go. The gross incompetence, burden and danger to NYC taxpayers cannot be understated.”
John and Lt. Eric Dym (NYPD Ret.) are the founders and hosts of ‘The Finest Unfiltered’ a news source and podcast that primarily covers the events within the NYPD. John regularly appears as a commentator on national news programs providing context and clarity.
Next Steps
I salute the steps made by the PBA with their injunction. Each officer, because each of the remaining 30 were sworn in as NYPD officers, deserves full due process. Certainly, many of them will face the result that they cannot be police officers at NYPD or anywhere else. But for those, due to no fault of their own, were passed on through the process, likely told to ignore their disqualification letter, should receive the full support of the department in either restoring their qualification or find some other role that they qualify for within the city.
As our nation’s largest police agency and the world’s largest municipal police organization, what happens in New York has some consequence to every peace officer in our land whether you are a deputy in a Louisiana parish, tribal police in New Mexico or protecting our ports on the West Coast. Let’s keep an eye on it as I’m sure there are other pages to be turned in this story.
Please keep all of our peace officers in your prayers!
Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.
