Roughly 20% Of Cop Applicants Found Unfit For Anti-Gun Unit: NYPD

NEW YORK, NY — Nearly one in five police officers who volunteered to join Mayor Eric Adams' controversial reboot of the NYPD plainclothes unit were disqualified because of questions over former conduct, officials said.

The NYPD eliminated between 15 to 20 percent of applicants seeking to join the five-person anti-crime teams, which hit the streets of 25 New York City precincts on Monday, police said.

"You had to have the right social-emotional intelligence," Adams said at a press briefing Wednesday. "We were not desperate [saying] 'Just because you volunteered, we want you.' No."

The officers were disqualified based on disciplinary histories, use of force incidents, civilian complaints, body camera footage and other items revealed in a "deep dive" of their records, said Chief of Department Kenneth Corey.

The statistic applied only to disqualified officers who came with the approval of their commanding officers, Corey noted, meaning an even higher percentage of those who volunteered might not have gotten the job.

The NYPD responded to Patch's email asking for more specific details on the number of disqualified and accepted applicants by sending a video of the press conference, which did not include the requested information.

The vetting process is one of several changes to the anti-crime units, now called Neighborhood Safety Teams, that Adams and the NYPD promised will rectify "mistakes" of former plainclothes teams.

Those units were disbanded by former Mayor Bill de Blasio amid years of accusations of aggressive tactics, outright brutality and racist policing against Black and Brown New Yorkers.

People of color make up a majority in the 30 precincts — located in upper Manhattan, Central Brooklyn, the majority of The Bronx and parts of Queens and Staten Island — that will see new anti-gun teams, census data show.

Twenty-five out of 30 precincts have seen the new units deployed with five precinct teams yet to come, police said.

Unlike the former unit, the new anti-crime teams —focused on gun removal — will wear uniforms that identify them as NYPD officers, Adams said, noting they will still use unmarked cars to create an "element of surprise."

"These officers are going to be identified as police officers," Adams said. "The old street crime unit ... you didn't know if they were police officers, a rival gang or someone committing a crime."

The NYPD has also created a new seven-day training for each officer selected for the "elite" teams, officials said.

Once the cops hit the streets, each arrest will be evaluated by a sergeant whose sole job is monitoring the anti-crime team.

The NYPD's Risk Management Bureau and a court-appointed federal monitor — assigned as a watchdog after the unconstitutional stop-and-frisk era — will also review the teams' performance, the NYPD commissioner said.

The teams will meet regularly with "community members" to identify any problems with their role in the neighborhood.

The Legal Aid Society issued a statement earlier this week calling on the city and the NYPD to immediately reprimand plainclothes officers who break the unit's rules.

"When officers commit acts of misconduct, City Hall must swiftly hold them to account," the attorneys group said. "Otherwise, these teams will run roughshod through the city."

But Adams delivered a stern warning Wednesday to phone-touting New Yorkers ready to film any perceived acts of police misconduct.

"There's a proper way to police and there's a proper way to document," Adams said. "Stop being on top of my police officers while they're carrying out their jobs."