Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch revealed on Wednesday that their revamped efforts to hire more officers amid the NYPD’s staffing crisis are bearing fruit. The department’s headcount is expected to reach 35,000 by the fall of 2026.
In February, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that she would be lowering college credit requirements to become a cop, saying, “The NYPD is in a hiring crisis.” The main crux of Tisch’s strategy was immediately lowering the number of college credits needed to become an officer from 60 to 24; that impacts more than 5,000 candidates on 29 active civil service lists who were previously ineligible to join the NYPD.
