The NYPD said Thursday it intends to fire 31 officers already on the job but hired despite having disqualifying material in their background, and in violation of state law.
In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson said the officers were improperly hired despite having been initially told that information discovered in their background investigations, such as prior criminal convictions and drivers license suspensions, had disqualified them from joining the force.
The plans will remain on hold at least until next week after a judge granted the Police Benevolent Association a temporary restraining order late Thursday.
Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry said before the judge's order that officers weren’t responsible for the NYPD's mistakes in the hiring process.
"It is an absolute travesty that the department is trying to cover its track."
The NYPD has until Monday to file a response to the ruling, according to court papers.
NYPD officials were not immediately available for comment on the order.
Hendry lauded the ruling.
"These police officers did nothing wrong. ... ," Hendry said in a statement. "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."
The NYPD spokesperson, Bradley Weekes, said earlier the officers had been informed beginning at 9 a.m. on Thursday they could either resign within 24 hours or be fired.
According to the NYPD, each of the affected officers had been originally given "final notices of disqualification" during the application process but were still hired in violation of state law.
"The department was not legally allowed to hire these individuals and ... they could no longer continue as members of the NYPD," Weekes said.
He didn’t elaborate as to why the officers, who were hired in 2023 and 2024, became cops despite disqualifying facts in their backgrounds, some of which they had lied about. Weekes said the former commanding officer of the department’s candidate assessment office, Insp. Terrell M. Anderson, had been reassigned to the Housing Bureau following an investigation. Anderson, a 20-year veteran, couldn’t be reached for comment late Thursday.
While the number of affected officers is relatively small, their potential loss comes at a time when the NYPD has been trying desperately to get new recruits and move them through the hiring process to beef up its ranks, currently at 33,500. To ease the way for potential recruits, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced in February, among other measures, that the college credit requirement for recruits had been lowered to 24 from 60.
The reduced college credit requirement had the effect, officials said, of swelling the ranks of potential recruits who might otherwise not have been eligible to be hired. New recruits go through six months of training at the police academy before officially being assigned to commands.