New York, NY — The New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch announced a series of updates to the Police Officer Exam, making it more accessible for millions of New Yorker’s.
Beginning this month, the open competitive police officer exam will be offered monthly in an effort to bolster recruitment, with application fees waived from July-September 2025. The minimum age for police officer applicants has been lowered to 20.5 years old.
“We want the best and brightest to join the NYPD, and we’re clearing the path for those who are ready to lead and committed to serving this city,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch. “Our officers work tirelessly to keep crime down and protect our communities, but it’s no secret that the NYPD is facing a staffing crisis. Keeping the greatest city in the world safe requires recruiting and retaining the best people for the job and this will help us build the next generation of NYPD officers.”
Police academy training is six months in duration, so all recruits will be at least 21 years of age upon graduation.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is the largest and one of the oldest municipal police departments in the United States, with approximately 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees. For more insight into the demographics of the Department, please see recent demographics here.
The NYPD was established in 1845, and today, is responsible for policing an 8.5-million-person city, by performing a wide variety of public safety, law enforcement, traffic management, counter-terror, and emergency response roles. In the past 25 years, the department has achieved spectacular declines in both violent and property crime, ensuring that New York City has the lowest overall rate of major crimes in the 25 largest cities in the country.
The NYPD is divided into major bureaus for enforcement, investigations, and administration. It has 78 patrol precincts with patrol officers and detectives covering the entire city. The department also has 12 transit districts to police the subway system and its nearly six-million daily riders, and nine police service areas (PSAs) to patrol the city’s public housing developments, which are home to more than 400,000 residents. Additionally, uniformed civilians serve as traffic safety agents on the city’s busy streets and highways, and as school safety agents, protecting public schools and the over-a-million students who attend them.
