Inspector Let Recruits Who Failed Psychological Exam Join the N.Y.P.D.
A New York police inspector was transferred after allowing dozens of prospective officers to continue in the hiring process even though they failed to meet mental health standards set by the department, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Terrell Anderson, who had commanded the candidate assessment division, was sent to the housing unit because officials learned he had overridden negative psychological reports for 80 candidates. That allowed them to go into the Police Academy even though they should have been disqualified based on their psychological assessments, according to the two people.
It is not clear how many of the candidates went on to graduate from the academy and become police officers. The psychological reports had been overridden over the past several years, according to one of the people.
In a statement, the police said that Inspector Anderson had been transferred and that the matter was under investigation. The inspector declined to comment.
The inspector's decisions came as the department, the nation's largest police force, has been hemorrhaging officers. The department's head count has been falling since 2020. There were 33,531 uniformed officers in the department as of April 1, according to the city's Independent Budget Office, down from a peak of 40,000 in 2000.
Inspector Anderson, who was transferred to the housing unit on May 12, joined the department in 2004 and has no history of disciplinary problems, according to police records. He has been cited for excellent or meritorious police duty 38 times, according to police records, and has been lauded as an innovative officer who has tried to work more closely with community leaders in troubled precincts.
In 2020, he took over the 73rd Precinct, which covers Brownsville, a neighborhood of Brooklyn where he was raised and where residents had complained that officers had become too aggressive, grabbing men off the street to arrest them for minor offenses.
Inspector Anderson came up with what became known as the Brownsville Safety Alliance, a group of neighborhood and city groups, police officers and members of the Kings County district attorney's office who worked together to ensure that fewer people were arrested and entangled in the criminal justice system.
Inspector Anderson said he decided he wanted to change the way precinct officers interacted with residents after he approached a woman grilling outside.
'The look of fear she gave me, and I was like 'Wow, I didn't come on this job for someone like that to look at me,'' he said in an interview posted by Mayor Eric Adams on social media in November 2021. 'That told me we had work to do.'
Inspector Anderson was transferred to the candidate assessment division in 2022 and became known for his eagerness to recruit more officers of color into the department, according to law enforcement officials who know him.
Many recruits fail the psychological exam not because of serious mental disorders but because they appear inauthentic or overthink their answers, according to Kevin Sheerin, a lawyer and a retired New York police captain who has written at length about the department's hiring process on his website.
Failing to prepare for the psychological exam is one of the top mistakes recruits make, he wrote in one recent blog post.
'This is a critical step in the hiring process designed to assess your emotional and mental fitness for the demands of the job,' Mr. Sheerin wrote. 'Many candidates assume they can wing it, but that is a huge mistake.'
Recruits who fail the psychological test can appeal the decision to the civil service commission. They can also opt to take another civil service exam and try to rejoin the Police Academy later.
The psychological test is divided into two parts: a written test made up of true or false questions that takes about five to six hours to complete and a one-on-one interview with a psychologist.
A recruit can be disqualified for a wide range of reasons. Candidates are tested for personality disorders, mental illness, substance use disorders and traits incompatible with police work, such as immaturity or aggression.
The department's recruiting crisis has led it to scale back educational requirements, even as it brought back more rigorous physical requirements. In February, the department lowered the number of college credits that applicants need to become recruits to 24 from 60.
Officers have been lured away by jobs that offer higher pay and less stress. The attrition has forced overtime shifts that many officers say leave them burned out.
Earlier in the year, officials said they expected mass departures in 2025, when about 3,700 officers will reach their 20th anniversaries, making them eligible for full pension.
Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch has said she wants to get the head count back up to 35,000.
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