By Luke Peteley
Staten Island Advance, N.Y.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Saturday he would be adding two additional New York City Police Department police academy classes to the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Executive Budget.
The pair of classes will each add 600 new recruits to the rolls on this calendar year, raising the total tally of new NYPD recruits in 2024 to 2,400, according to the city. The 1,200 recruits of both the July and October classes will hit city streets in January 2025 and April 2025, respectively.
This doubling down bolsters the mayor’s efforts to raise the number of NYPD officers patrolling New York City to 35,000 over the coming years.
“I always say that public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity. By driving down crime, we have saved lives and laid the foundation for economic recovery, but we want to keep that going and we won’t do anything to risk all our progress,” Adams said. “Today, I am proud to announce that, thanks to our strong fiscal management that has stabilized the city budget and our fiscal outlook, we are funding two additional police classes this year in the upcoming Executive Budget.”
Overall crime in New York City is down 3.1% year to date, according to the NYPD’s CompStat 2.0 data. Additionally, shootings and murders are both down by double digits citywide compared to 2023 — 19.8% and 23.5%, respectively.
On Staten Island, overall major crime is down 7.5% year to date, according to data.
“This funding for the NYPD’s July and October 2024 recruit classes is a major win for public safety in New York City ,” NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said. “While the NYPD will always be at the forefront of new technology and precision policing, the police officer is the ultimate crime reduction tool. I am grateful to Mayor Adams for his generous and continual support of New York’s Finest.”
This latest move by the Adams administration comes a few months after the mayor restored funding to the NYPD and FDNY after the city underwent budget cuts related to the ongoing migrant crisis.
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