NYPD recruitment initiative to target LGBTQ community to take police exam
The NYPD is ready to announce Tuesday its first ever recruitment initiative to encourage members of the LGBTQ community to take the police exam, the first step to becoming a police officer, officials said.
A drive to push for more cops from the LGBTQ community, also known as LGBTQIA+ to be more inclusive, will be part of the latest effort begun earlier this year to increase diversity in the ranks.
"Our Office of Equity and Inclusion worked together with our recruitment team and the Gay Officers Action League to develop the department’s first recruitment campaign featuring officers who identify as LGBTQIA+, encouraging people to join the NYPD to help make our department as diverse as New York City," Tanya Meisenholder, deputy commissioner for equity and inclusion, said in a statement.
Meisenholder said the initiative is part of an effort by the NYPD to work closely with LGBTQ groups, an effort which has led to expanded training and changes in personnel policies.
The recruitment program is expected to include targeted media ads and outreach to the community, along with other media designed to encourage minority communities generally to take the police exam, a prerequisite for admission to the Police Academy.
It was unclear Monday how many cops identify as LGBTQ. Estimates reported by some members of the Gay Officers Action League, also known as GOAL, put the figures at around 400, in a force 34,700 officers. Officials with GOAL didn’t return calls and email requests for comment.
The latest recruitment effort follows up on a program announced in April in which the NYPD started a publicity blitz to get police exam applicants from diverse ethnic and racial groups, even waiving the usual $40 fee to take the exam. Some 14,534 people registered for the one-day exam, which was administered on a rolling basis from June to August.
An NYPD spokesman said 70% of registrants identified as minority, with 29.2% being Black or African American, an increase of 11.4% over the prior four exam periods.
Some 40% of registrants didn’t show up to take the test, said the department. Of the 8,681 who sat for the exam, 26.2% were Black, 37.8% Hispanic, 31.9% white and 13.1% Asian, with the remainder from other ethnic groups or mixed, said the department. The next academy class is slated to begin Oct. 12.
Black people have long been underrepresented in the NYPD uniformed force, currently at 15.2% compared to a city population of 24.3%.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
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