Diverse Class of NYPD Grads Now Wear Blue

By ANDREW HUGHES

“Never forget, you are the police. Your job is to keep people safe.”

The words of Commissioner James O’Neill reverberated Thursday at the graduation of over 600 police officers into the nation’s largest police force. The event, held at the theater at Madison Square Garden, saw 646 police recruits officially become members of the New York Police Department.

What resonated even more was the diversity of the class.

“You are people from all over the globe,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “You represent all that is good about New York City.”

Some 21 percent of the graduating officers were from foreign lands. In addition, 22 percent of the graduating officers were women, including the winner of the mayor’s award as valedictorian for the graduating class, Irena Demophia.  Speaking with an accent, she fondly recalled her journey.

“I remember doing hundreds of push-ups and squats in the gym,” she recalled with a laugh. “We endured the physical and tactical training for the job we had, both physically and mentally.”

Diversifying the police force has been a goal for the department, especially in light of  the racial tension towards police officers in the past few years. Commissioner O’Neill said he believes the department has made great strides in diversifying the force, though the job was far from done.

““I think that’s something that the NYPD worked really hard at, that we have a true representation of the city. And we’re getting closer and closer to that,” said O’Neill.

“In anything that we’re doing, we’re building up the trust between the police and the community,” O’Neill added. “And I think when we have that diversity, it’s going to happen.”

Thursday’s graduation continues the yearly tradition of  staging it at Madison Square Garden. The event has become a yearly tradition at 4 Penn Plaza since its inception in 1968; however, there are any police department graduation ceremonies a year held throughout the city.