Bloomberg, Kelly welcome 1,359 new cops

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly presided over a graduation ceremony for 1,359 new police officers at Madison Square Garden on December 26.
It was the ninth class of officers to join the police department since September 11, 2001, when 23 officers were lost.
&#8220Congratulations to our new police officers,” said Kelly. &#8220You have earned the distinction of being the best trained and prepared police officers, ready to protect the most exciting city in the world, in one of the most demanding policing environments anywhere.”
Of the graduates, approximately 28 percent are Hispanic, 17 percent are black, 8 percent are Asian, 1 percent are other ethnicities, and 46 percent are white. Approximately 18 percent of the graduates are female. 
Among the newest class, 23 percent have received four-year college degrees; 17 percent have completed associates degrees; and 13 individuals have earned Master's degrees. Nearly 90 percent of the class has had some college education. Members of the class hail from a wide range of professions including 225 graduates who have previously served in the military.
At the ceremony, Bloomberg and Kelly also announced that the NYPD Police Academy has received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The NYPD is only the ninth police department in the world - and the first major U.S. police department - to receive this accreditation.
&#8220Very few police academies in the world have gone through the three to four year painstaking review process to win accreditation,” said CALEA Commissioner Gary J. Margolis. &#8220With one exception, none of the big city police academies in the United States have achieved this distinction. This year the Police Academy of the New York City Police Department became the only big city police academy in the United States and only the ninth of any size in the world to be so recognized.”