City hiring falls short of Blaz vow
Just 64 recruits are to start training Friday to become New York City correction officers, far less than the 400-plus promised by Mayor de Blasio, the Daily News has learned.
The low turnout suggested the agency is having trouble attracting recruits after the chaos that has engulfed Rikers Island over the past several months.
In early September, de Blasio and Correction Department Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi said 400 to 600 officers would be starting the academy in October.
Asked about the turnout number Thursday, de Blasio said he believes the classes are “staggered” and promised an update later.
“We had a lot of demand for those opportunities to work for corrections,” the mayor said.
“It’s a very meaningful job. It’s a job that provides a lot of opportunity, a lot of security, long-term security, and folks want those jobs,” de Blasio added. “I believe the academy’s being staggered, but we’ll get you an exact update.”
The city is taking applications until Tuesday for the job, which pays a minimum salary of $47,857 per year that rises gradually to $92,073 after 5 years.
The 64 recruits starting training Friday come from a list of applicants who previously passed the correction officer exam but were not hired, sources said.
Officials are optimistic about getting 600 more recruits out of a pool of 5,000 applicants expected to sign up for the exam by Tuesday. That pool of recruits will be trained separately from the class of 64, said correction sources.
A correction official said that some 5,000 people have signed up to take the test next Wednesday.
The recruits reported Thursday to be sworn in, fill out paperwork and receive orientation. They’ll formally start training on Friday in their academy uniforms.
The start of training comes as the academy has no deputy training commissioner or warden.
The size of the uniformed staff has been a bone of contention between the city and the union.
The city says there are roughly 8,500 correction officers, while the union puts their number at 7,600.