The New York City government recently pointed out in a court document that the New York Police Department (NYPD) had illegally hired 31 police officers between 2023 and 2024. Some of them had multiple arrest records, drug use, soliciting prostitutes, and a large number of traffic violations. The police department originally planned to dismiss them, but after the police union filed a lawsuit, the judge extended the stay order for 60 days this week.
According to the documents submitted by the city government, these police officers had originally received “final disqualification notices” due to unqualified background checks, and one of them had been arrested three times; but the former director of the candidate assessment department, Inspector Anderson (Terrell Anderson), who was responsible for the selection, “arbitrarily” revoked the unqualified decision, allowing the relevant personnel to enter the police academy.
The city government emphasized in the document that Anderson’s behavior was “invalid”, and the relevant police officers still chose to accept the appointment after being notified of their unqualified status, and they had to bear the risks themselves.
The court documents detailed several cases, including a 24-year-old rookie police officer with no work experience who repeatedly drove 50 miles per hour over the speed limit, had his driver’s license suspended eight times, and had hit pedestrians; another admitted to using LSD and marijuana to “relieve stress”; and some claimed in psychological evaluations that “I will return double what others do to me.”
Another police officer was accused of paying a stripper for sex in 2017 and a masseuse for masturbation in 2018; and another admitted to being arrested multiple times for marijuana, a suspended driver’s license, and eight traffic accidents, and “using his father’s status as a detective to evade responsibility.”
Anderson was transferred from his original position on May 12 and is facing an internal affairs investigation and disciplinary charges. The City Police Association (PBA) requested a temporary restraining order for 31 police officers. Chairman Patrick Hendry said, “This concerns the livelihoods of 31 police officers and their families. They were told that they would be fired within 24 hours without any procedural protection. This is wrong.” He pointed out that the outside world was smearing the police officers involved, and emphasized that they had completed all training and were recognized as “qualified” by the police department.
In recent years, the City Police Department has been short of staff, and Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch has relaxed some police academy admission standards at the beginning of the year.
