City Faces Criticism It Short-Circuited Attempt to Make Police Force More Diverse

The city's efforts to make the police force more diverse has suffered a setback. The NYPD is under fire for not allowing more people to take the police exam last month. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

Back in the fall, the NYPD launched a recruitment campaign to get more women and people of color to apply to be police officers. But now, the city is facing criticism it short-circuited its attempt to make the police force more diverse by limiting the number of people who could take the police hiring exam.

"The doors were closed before we could get it spread throughout our communities to make sure we got people in to take the test," said Tim Pearson of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.  

Fourteen thousand people applied to take the exam at one of the city's testing centers before the city abruptly stopped taking applications in the middle of January. But the city had advertised that prospective officers had all month to apply.

Benjamin Tucker, the NYPD's first deputy commissioner, testified about the problem at a City Council hearing on Wednesday.

"We were expecting more than that," Tucker said. "Remember, we hadn't given an exam in a year and a half. We expected that people would, the recruitment campaign not withstanding, we expected that people would want to sit for the exam."

DCAS, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, administers the exams. The agency tells NY1 the NYPD asked for only 14,000 applicants. 

Retired Police Inspector Tim Pearson is a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.  He says limiting the number of exams could limit diversity.

"We were trying to recruit people from all communities to make sure we get a fair representation from across the city of all communities," Pearson said.

Vanessa Gibson, the chairwoman of the Council's public safety committee, says she is concerned.

"We also closed the list in a little over two weeks. So I just see, if we don't allow an opportunity and further talk to DCAS about the capacity, we are going to run into the same challenges when we open up a new exam," Gibson said.

Administrative services says a new police exam will be offered to applicants beginning February 24. The agency says it will continue to work with the NYPD on future schedules.