Hundreds Of New NYPD Officers Graduate From Police Academy

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police Commissioner Bill Bratton welcomed hundreds of police academy graduates to the New York Police Department during a ceremony at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Bratton said the 820 new police officers won't be going to the highest crime locations.

He said there's now a new plan in place.

"We're totally changing the concept now where all the officers are going and being dispersed throughout all 77 of our precincts and our transit districts; they're being teamed up with volunteer field training officers, " Bratton said. "So they get the totality of the police experience during their first six months on the job after graduating from the academy."

The class will be more diverse, Bratton said. About 11 percent of the new officers are African-American.

About 3,000 officers will be added to the force in the next year, Bratton said.

In:
• New York City Police Department