From 'begging' to booming: NYPD's recruitment gains follow drop in standards

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch welcomed the biggest class of recruits in nearly a decade this month.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch recently swore in the largest police class in nearly a decade, declaring that police recruitment is “back in a big way.”

That marks a significant change from six months ago, when she said the department was “begging” people just to take the police test. Police headcounts have been on the wane nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests, research shows. Tisch blamed the paucity of new recruits on the “vile” rhetoric that accompanied the “defund” movement.

Now, she says, that rhetoric has shifted.

“The years of indiscriminately bashing the police are behind us,” she told recruits at their swearing-in last week. “The rhetoric around public safety is changing.”

Critics say the increase can be attributed to a less lofty reality: The NYPD has made it easier to join its ranks. The department dropped educational requirements for new recruits from 60 college credits to 24 credits, or roughly four semesters of college down to two. Tisch also reduced the age requirements to become an officer from 25 years old to 20.5 years old.

“The shell game is we're filling our numbers, but we've lowered our standards so that we can fill,” said Kenneth Quick, a policing professor at DeSales University and a former NYPD inspector in charge of personnel.

“I would rather have fewer qualified, dedicated, motivated officers than more officers with less qualifications,” he added.

In addition to the lower standards, the city also waived testing fees and increased the number of entrance exams for a given year. Tisch said the new policies led to 2025's recruitment numbers being the highest in 41 years.

She cited a “massive increase” in applicants for the city’s police entrance exam, going from an average of 53 daily applicants to 231 daily applicants.

“ That scale is not just a measure of hiring, it's a measure of renewal. It tells us that policing in this city is being rebuilt,” she said at the NYPD police academy in Queens.

Quick said lower education standards don't necessarily mean lower quality police officers, but he said it does lead to less job satisfaction, which could lead to poorer performance. His research has found that officers with college degrees report higher levels of job satisfaction.

“We know job satisfaction is tied to job performance, and how they go out there and do the job and interact with the public,” he said.

Stats suggest that higher police head counts don't correlate with less crime. In 2024, the city recorded 123,890 index felonies, while having about 6,700 fewer officers than in 2001, when 162,908 such crimes were logged, according to a recent Vital City report authored by John Hall, another former NYPD executive. That marked a 24% decline in those crimes, even as the city’s population also grew by almost 500,000.

In 2011 there were 33,777 uniformed officers and roughly 10,000 fewer index crimes, according to city data.

“All of this suggests that raw head count is half or less than the story; more important is where those officers are deployed and what they are asked to do,” Hall wrote in his report.

Even as the NYPD reduces education standards and age requirements, it is still struggling to maintain its current staffing levels.

According to Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry, the department is on track to lose 3,800 officers this year because of attrition, just under the number of officers Tisch said she hopes to hire this year.

“Every New York City police officer knows they can find a less punishing workload, a better quality of life and competitive compensation in virtually any other police department in our area,” he said. “The NYPD staffing crisis won’t end unless the city does more to keep the talented cops it already has.”