New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Wednesday that the department was relaxing its college credit requirement for new recruits and also instituting a requirement that they complete a 1.5-mile run in 14 minutes and 21 seconds or less to graduate from the police academy.
Addressing a morning meeting of the Association for A Better New York, Tisch said the college credit requirement was being trimmed from 60 to 24 credits to make more candidates eligible. By contrast, many police departments don't have a college requirement, she said.
In 2023, more than 2,200 potential candidates had to be rejected because they couldn't meet the college requirement, Tisch said.
"We can't afford to do that any longer," said Tisch, who acknowledged that the department has been begging to get new applicants for the policing job.
In addition, the calculation for college credits earned for someone going through the six-month police academy course will be increased from 36 to 45 credits, the commissioner said.
In an effort to get more physically fit officers, the running requirement is being reinstituted as a graduation requirement, Tisch added.
Currently, the NYPD has just under 34,000 officers and is struggling to keep up its headcount in the face of high levels of retirements and resignations.
Newsday reported exclusively in mid-February the department was considering lowering the credit requirement after Tisch said the department was nearing a "staffing crisis."
Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York president Patrick Hendry said in a statement tweaking hiring standards won’t stop the way candidates are deciding to join other police departments with better benefits and pay.
"Instead of another temporary Band-Aid, New York City needs to look at long-term solutions and incentives that will help us recruit and retain the Finest," Hendry said.
In her wide-ranging address, Tisch also blasted the current discovery laws in New York State which she said have contributed to high levels of recidivism in the city and prompted some prosecutors to dismiss cases because of tougher deadlines for turning over materials to defense attorneys.
"Compared to 2018, 2024 saw an unacceptable rise in the number of individuals arrested three or more times for the same crime in the same year," Tisch said. "The increase was 61% for burglaries, 64% for shoplifting, 71% for grand larceny, 81% for robberies."
Felony assaults, Tisch said, were up more than 100% for those recidivists, part of a group of offenders she said go through the revolving door of the criminal justice system.
Tisch said she and others in the city criminal justice system traveled to Albany in recent weeks to discuss changes in the discovery laws with legislators.
"It was a productive trip and its appears that the message has finally made its way up the New York State Thruway into the halls of the state government," Tisch said, although she didn’t elaborate.
Tisch also noted that crime continues to drop, in part by sending officers in large numbers to special, smaller zones, which transcend the large precinct boundaries. Law enforcement officials have noted over 40 special zones have been set up. For the year to date serious felonies have dropped 15%, in contrast to prior years which saw increases as high as 48% in the same period for 2022, police statistics show.