The NYPD is trying to force dozens of officers and recruits who failed to meet the department’s standards to resign — but the effort hit a roadblock late Thursday when a state judge blocked the move, The Post has learned.
At least 30 cops and cadets — hired between 2023 and 2024 under Inspector Terrell Anderson, who has since been transferred out of his role with the police academy — were notified of the NYPD’s attempt to purge them Thursday, according to the sources.
“They all got called down,” a police source told The Post. “They’re being told, ‘You didn’t meet the qualifications. You shouldn’t have been hired. You have 24 hours to resign or be fired.’”
“A lot of them are psych issues,” the source said. “There are other issues too.”
The NYPD confirmed the move in a statement issued to The Post.
“Following an internal investigation, the NYPD recently identified officers who joined the department in the past two years despite receiving final notices of disqualification during the application process, which is a violation of the law,” a department spokesperson said. “The department was not legally allowed to hire these individuals and was forced to inform them that they could no longer continue as members of the NYPD.”
But a temporary restraining order handed down later in the day by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Paul Goetz put the firings on hold and called for the Police Benevolent Association and police officials to face off in court on July 15.
“We [are] grateful for the pause in these unjust firings, but this is only the first step,” PBA president Patrick Hendry said in a statement, stressing that the singled-out cops “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,” he continued.
The targeted cops include both sworn officers and recruits at the academy, law enforcement sources said.
During their application process, the recruits were issued notices of disqualification, which prohibit the NYPD from hiring them as a matter of state law, the sources said.
Some of the recruits in question allegedly lied about their previous convictions, multiple arrests and previous employment terminations, according to the sources.
The officers’ guns were removed over the past few days, the sources said.
“These police officers aren’t responsible for the NYPD’s broken hiring process,” Hendry said before the temporary order was issued. “As far as they know, they were qualified to be New York City police officers, because the NYPD hired and trained them.”
“It is an absolute travesty that the department is trying to cover its tracks by summarily forcing them off the job, without affording them the same appeal process available to other applicants,” the union head said.
“We are exploring all legal options to protect our members’ rights and hold the NYPD accountable for this complete management failure.”
Sources said the controversy followed a push by NYPD brass to beef up the department’s dwindling ranks, with 34,475 uniformed officers this year, down 14% from 40,200 in 2000.
Earlier this year, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch lowered some standards for recruits, reinstating the 1.5-mile timed run but reducing college credit requirements and other measures.
Meanwhile, Anderson, who led the NYPD’s “Candidate Assessment Division,” was transferred to the housing unit back on May 12 as part of an Internal Affairs Bureau probe into claims that he allowed more than 70 candidates to stay at the academy, even though they had failed the psych requirements.
Anderson is facing serious departmental charges, according to the sources.
Among the troubled recruits allegedly kept on by Anderson was Emilio Andino, the nephew of ex-NYPD Lt. Quathisha Epps — the former department bigwig implicated in a tawdry sex-for-OT scandal, the sources said.
Andino, who was on probation, was previously fired after getting into a fight at the academy, according to the sources.
Civil rights attorney Eric Sanders, who represents Andino and Epps, slammed the decision to fire the cops and recruits.
“These so-called psychological assessments are a red herring to deflect from the NYPD’s corrupt and subjective hiring practices — especially within the Candidate Assessment Division, which has quietly operated this way since the late ’80s,” he said Thursday.
“This isn’t about fitness,” Sanders added. “It’s about retaliation tied to Anderson, Epps and Andino.”