“This is a fitting way to begin closing out a banner year for the NYPD–reducing crime another 10.4 percent and keeping us the nation’s safest big city,” Bloomberg said. “This is a project that has started and stalled through three previous city administrations and now it is getting built. The new academy will vastly improve the officer training that goes into making the NYPD the world’s greatest and most advanced police department by providing a state-of-the-art facility that can serve the department’s 21st century needs.”

“As the Police Department has grown, so have the complexities of our mission,” Kelly said. “The new Police Academy will serve as an instruction site for generations of police officers, traffic agents and school safety agents, and includes advanced technology to enhance the world-class training already being provided by the department. New York City police officers have driven crime down year after year. They deserve a Police Academy equal to their accomplishments and dedication.”

“Identifying an accessible and affordable 30-acre site [was only one] of the challenges and showed why previous administrations had such difficulty in getting this vital public safety investment off the ground,” Skyler said. “It also required working closely with local elected officials and community members to mitigate any impacts associated with a facility that serves our 50,000-person police department. By working with the community, we were able to develop a comprehensive plan and the project now has widespread support.”

“The world’s finest police department needs the world’s finest training facilities and DDC is proud to be working with our colleagues in public service and the best design and construction professionals to make this a training campus second to none,’ DDC Commissioner David J. Burney, FAIA, said. “This project will demonstrate our commitment to architectural excellence and will be one of the largest environmentally sustainable projects in New York City.”

“I am delighted to join Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly as we break ground today for a new, state-of-the-art Police Academy that will provide facilities for training police officers who have to deal with some of the most challenging and diverse situations in the greatest city in the world,” Marshall said. “Our police officers continue to be our first line of defense as we combat crime and subversive activities. Here in Queens, we are proud to be the new home of this academy. In addition to providing an increased police presence in this community, it will create construction and permanent jobs, while increasing local business activity and growth. We bid a fond welcome to all police officers to their new home!”

“I’d like to thank the NYPD for working with the community and the City Council to make this groundbreaking a reality,” Vallone said. “The new academy will lead to a better trained police force, which makes our police, and our communities, safer.”

The NYPD currently conducts training in numerous facilities scattered throughout the city. The main facility, the Police Academy, located on East 20th Street in Manhattan, was built in 1964, intended for a department half of the size of the current force, is an overcrowded and outdated facility, unable to meet the needs of today’s department. For example, the Firearms and Tactics Section is located at Rodman’s Neck in The Bronx, while the driver training field where the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course is taught is located at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. The new facility will consolidate all NYPD training facilities at one location, creating a police training campus that can handle volume of recruits trained each year and meet the department’s highly advanced technological needs.

Once fully completed, the new Police Academy will occupy a 30-acre campus and be able to train approximately 2,000 recruits at any one time. It will feature instruction space for providing immersive, scenario based training for police personnel; support and administration buildings; a field house; indoor shooting ranges; a tactical village; a housing facility for visiting instructors; driver training fields; parking and a utility plant. The facilities will be designed for in-service training of officers, as well as for recruit training.

The project was designed with community concerns at the forefront of the planning process. The location is isolated from residential streets, reducing any impact the academy’s operations will have on the College Point community. The Department of Transportation and Department of Design and Construction worked closely with the community to identify traffic mitigation measures that will be put in place prior to the opening of the new academy. The location will have ample onsite parking for NYPD personnel, including a 3,000-car parking garage, to ensure those using the academy are not utilizing local parking spaces. The location is also well served by existing mass transportation options.

The total cost for the first phase of the new academy is estimated at $750 million. The project’s construction is a joint venture of Turner Construction Company and STV Incorporated. A cost estimate for the full academy project has not been finalized, as some components of the project’s design are ongoing.

The construction of the new academy is covered by one of the “Project Labor Agreements” announced by Mayor Bloomberg in November. The agreements, made with the Building and Construction Trades Council, will cover $5.3 billion in public projects comprising 32,000 construction jobs over the next four years. By easing the city’s bidding requirements and standardizing work rules, the city will save nearly $300 million on major public projects such as the new Police Academy. The savings will be used by the city to fund additional capital projects, allowing projects that may have been delayed due to funding shortfalls to be completed and help create more jobs. The Project Labor Agreements are expected to reduce construction costs at the Police Academy by approximately $30 million. The cost of the project was further reduced by locating the academy on land already owned by the city. The first phase of the academy project is expected to create 2,000 construction jobs.

The entire complex is being designed to achieve a LEED Silver rating. Some of the sustainable design measures under consideration include an energy-efficient central utility plant; green roofs and high albedo roofs; a high performance building envelope with solar shading and daylight enhancement; daylight harvesting in classrooms and offices; rainwater harvesting and reuse on site; bio-filtration of stormwater runoff; energy efficient lighting in all spaces, and automated building controls.

In 2007, a site selection committee led by Skyler reviewed eight possible locations for the new Police Academy and concluded that the College Point Auto Pound would be the location best suited to create a new facility that can meet the modern needs of the NYPD.

The New York City Police Department plans to cancel a 2010 police NYPD Police Academy Class because of budget cuts.

At a City Council public safety committee meeting Tuesday, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that there will be no police academy next January to meet the city’s mandate that the department decrease their ranks by 1,000 officers.

That would bring the head count in the nation’s largest police department to 34,771. That’s down from an earlier projection of 37,838.   Over 3,000 fewer officer will be walking the beat on the New York City streets.

The Police Commissioner said the city will hire a class of 1,600 recruits in July 2010.Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said that it was “time to stop cannibalizing the NYPD for the sake of the budget.”

The city could end up hiring more police officers through President Barack Obama‘s stimulus package, however that still remains to be seen.

The purpose of the New City Police Academy is to train and produce a basically trained Police Officer prepared to serve in the New York City Police Department. The New York City Police Academy is approximately 9 months.

Physical Training and Tactics

The Physical Training and Tactics Department continually seeks to improve the effectiveness of its training. The unit continues to refine its approach to training recruit officers on an ongoing basis. As an example, when they first entered the Police Academy, about two-thirds are unable to complete the newly instituted physical fitness examination. However, as a result of the Physical Training and Tactics Department’s efforts, over 99 percent of every recruit class since January 2004 has successfully met the new graduation requirement.

Recruit Integrity

The mission of the Integrity & Discipline Unit is to ensure that Recruit Police Officers assigned to the Police Academy’s Recruit Training Section are aware of, and are adhering to, Department regulations throughout the training period.

Additionally, the Unit is responsible for identifying, placing, and monitoring Recruit Officers on Disciplinary Probation and Special Tracking: two designations that identify Recruit Officers with poor disciplinary records. The Unit also conducts initial investigations of minor misconduct and other incidents on behalf of the Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Section.

Firearms and Tactics

The firearms training include familiarity and proficiency with a firearm. Recruits are required to qualify with the firearm that they

The Firearms and Tactics section currently has 135 certified New York State General Topics and Firearms Instructors on staff. There are 6 New York State certified Master Instructors on staff, who are responsible for conducting and teaching the Firearms Instructor Schools, in addition to their regular duties. Also on staff are 12 New York State certified Instructor Evaluators and 4 New York State Defensive Tactics Instructors. The unit also has numerous instructors certified to conduct training in the use of M/X-26 Tasers, Pepper Spray, Expandable Batons and Simunitions.

Driver Training

Officers attend driver training courses for “Department-Qualification” in various types of vehicles, i.e. Police Vans, Patrol Wagons, Bicycles, Scooters, Buses, Tow Trucks, etc. Courses include “Hands-On” vehicle instruction in addition to classroom lectures and discussion on “Defensive Driving Techniques & Skills”.

The EVOC portion of the Driver Training Program is a series of individual stations connected in a continuous oval pattern on the driving field. Each station is designed to replicate the required driver actions and vehicle movements needed for safe operation and collision avoidance.

Offsite (street/highway) exercises include actual street and highway driving skills where driving instructors assess students basic driving skills (turns, entering intersections, parking, space cushion, etc., and proactive defensive driving skills.

The training programs available through the Driver Education and Training Unit include:

• Recruit RMP Training Course
• 12 Passenger Van Training Course
• Four Wheel Drive (4X4) Vehicle Training Course
• All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Training Course
• Bus Training Course
• 2 & 3 Wheel Scooter Training Course
• Scooter License Training Course
• Scooter Refresher Training Course
• Patrol Wagon / Barrier Truck Training Course
• Accident Reduction Incentive Program Course
• Fuel Truck Training Course
• Accident Retraining Course
• Reinstatements Training Course
• Radio Emergency Patrol (REP) for Emergency Services Unit Personnel
• Command Post Vehicle (THV) Training Course
• Tractor Trailer Training Course
• Bicycle Training Course
• Tow Truck Training Course
• Box Truck Training Course
• Civilian Vehicle and Bicycle Training Course
• Two Day Accident Retraining Course

Contact Information

New York City Police Department Training Bureau

235 East 20th Street

New York, NY 10003

Phone: (212) 477-7633

Fax: (212) 477-9270

Police Academy Switchboard: 212-477-9700, 9701