Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Tisch Announce Hiring of Largest Police Recruit Class in Almost 10 Years

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch today announced the hiring of nearly 1,100 police officer recruits, marking the largest class of officers sworn in by the NYPD since January 2016. The 1,093-person class also breaks the record for the largest NYPD class hired during the Adams administration, previously broken in January 2025, which consisted of 1,045 NYPD recruits. Including today’s class, already this year, the NYPD has hired 2,911 recruits — the highest number since 2006 — with another class still scheduled for this year. During the totality of the Adams administration, the NYPD has already hired nearly 10,000 NYPD police officers when including today’s recruit class, the 773 recruits sworn in the past April who are still in training at the Police Academy, and the more than 8,000 other police officers who have completed their training and already on the streets and subways keeping New York City safe.

Today’s new class of recruits was sworn in this morning and will begin their training at the Police Academy tomorrow, joining a growing force of officers preparing to make the five boroughs safer once they graduate. The recruits reflect the diversity, talent, and experience that define New York City: they hail from 51 different countries, speak 34 languages, and include 80 individuals with previous or current military service.

Today’s announcement also builds on the Adams administration’s “End Culture of Anything Goes” campaign, highlighting Mayor Adams’ ongoing efforts to change city culture, update laws and make strategic investments that improve quality of life and prevent public disorder on city streets. 

“Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and today’s announcement shows we are investing in the future of both,” said Mayor Adams. “With nearly 1,100 new police recruits — the most in almost 10 years — beginning their training today thanks to expanded eligibility and modernized educational requirements we announced earlier this year, we are building a stronger and more modern NYPD that reflects the diversity, commitment, and determination of our city. These recruits will be part of the nearly 10,000 police officers who have stepped up to serve under our administration, helping us achieve historic reductions in crime and keeping our communities safe. Together, we are ending the culture of ‘anything goes,’ improving quality of life, and keeping New York City the safest big city in America and the best place to raise a family.”

“Today is a defining moment for the NYPD and for New York City — 1,093 new recruits are entering the police academy, the largest class in nearly a decade,” said NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “The single most strategic thing the NYPD can do right now is hire more qualified officers. That’s why we were laser-focused on addressing our recruitment efforts and bringing in the next generation of officers. The momentum is changing, and thanks to Mayor Adams’ support, we will continue to attract the highest level of candidates to protect this city.”

Today’s announcement underscores the administration’s signature investments to make New York City safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family, while maintaining record-high reserves and ensuring a strong fiscal future. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Adopted Budget — which builds on the “Best Budget Ever” — includes $3.4 billion for approximately 34,000 police officers, including four academy classes, and FY 2027 is funded to support a uniform force of 35,000.

In February 2025, NYPD Commissioner Tisch announced a three-part plan to attract more candidates and modernize education requirements to address the hiring crisis the NYPD has faced in recent years. The NYPD was one of the only remaining big-city municipal police forces in the country with a college credit requirement — which limited its ability to compete for applicants with other local agencies and major cities nationwide. As a result of the changes announced in February, the department reduced barriers to employment by reforming the required college credit minimum to enter the Police Academy from 60 credits to 24 credits. The new plan also emphasizes physical fitness by reinstating the previous long-standing requirement of completing a timed 1.5-mile run. Additionally, a recent reassessment conducted by the National College Credit Recommendation Service determined that the completion of the six-month NYPD Police Academy recruit training program is equivalent to 45 college credits, an increase from the previous 36 credits. Graduates of the academy will now enter the NYPD with a minimum of 69 college credits.

Following this expanded eligibility announcement, daily applications increased by almost 332 percent, from an average of 53.5 filings per day to 231.5 per day. During the most recent exam, that average skyrocketed 579 percent, with an average of 363 daily filers. There were more than 5,000 individuals registering to take the latest police exam in just 14 days. This massive increase reflects renewed interest in New Yorkers in serving the city.

The Adams administration’s focus on public safety has already produced historic results. From January 2025 to July 2025, New York City experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history. These historic numbers helped drive down major crime categories into the seventh consecutive quarter, with a 5.6 percent drop in July 2025 compared to the same month last year. Overall index crime across New York City is down 5 percent year-to-date, with reductions in homicides, robberies, burglaries, felony assaults, grand larcenies, vehicle theft, shootings, transit crime, housing crime, retail theft, hate crimes, and more — resulting in 3,605 fewer victims of crime in New York City so far this year compared to the same period last year. These record-low crime statistics build on the Adams administration’s work to remove more than 23,200 illegal guns from New York City streets since coming into office, including more than 3,400 illegal firearms already removed year-to-date.

Mayor Adams has also invested in broader public safety initiatives to keep communities safe. He has launched a $500 million blueprint to keep communities safe from gun violence, surged police officers into the subways to help reduce crime in the transit system, released plans to crack down on auto thefts and combat retail thefts, hired additional mental health clinicians to support people with untreated severe mental illness and announced plans to pilot new technology in the subways, and expanded the Saturday Night Lights youth program to keep young people safe and engaged.

Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Tisch also expanded the NYPD’s Quality of Life Division — a strategic public safety initiative launched in April 2025 that brings together specially trained officers from existing NYPD community-oriented roles to address chronic quality-of-life issues and strengthen community trust — to all five boroughs earlier this week. The division, made up of Q-Teams, will expand to housing developments citywide next month.

Through these combined efforts — recruitment, budget investments, and innovative programs — the Adams administration continues to prioritize safer streets, stronger communities, and a modernized police force prepared to meet the challenges of a 21st-century New York.

Interested applicants can learn more and apply by visiting the NYPD recruitment website.

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