NYPD swears in 524 new recruits after deadly ambush

The NYPD’s newest class of recruits during a swearing in ceremony last week. (Photo: NYPD)

Thursday afternoon, just one day after a New York City Police officer was shot and killed while sitting in a mobile command unit, the department welcomed more than 500 new recruits to the force.

The 524 new recruits include 85 former city service workers and 39 military veterans. The class come from 38 different countries across the world and can collectively speak 19 different languages, according to an NYPD news release.

The newly sworn-in recruits will spend the next six months in training, which will focus on neighborhood policing, de-escalation, communication skills, penal law, and safety tactics, as well as active-shooter training and anti-terror tactics. In an effort to enhance their abilities to protect the people of the city, their training will include access to the latest technology and education.

New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill began the ceremony by telling the recruits, “You can truly make a difference.”

“It won’t be easy,” O’Neill said of the recruits’ upcoming training, adding, “Our line of work certainly isn’t for everyone.”

He also noted that some days are easier than others.

“You’ll have days when your pride in this department and in yourselves and in your colleagues will lift you up like nothing else,” O’Neill said. “But you’ll also have truly terrible days, days like we had yesterday when pain and grief push you down to a point where you’re not sure if you can get back up,” he added, referring to the officer who was slain the day before.

“But you will get back up,” O’Neill continued. “You’ll get back up because the work of Police Officer Miosotis Familia is not finished. You’ll get back up because it’s our job to finish it.”

All in all, O’Neill said the great days “far outnumber the terrible ones” in the profession which he called the most noble of careers.

O’Neill, whose law enforcement career spans more than three decades, concluded by saying, “Through all of it, here’s my message for you: It’s worth it.”