Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - New York’s Finest were looking for a few good minds Wednesday.
New York police officials recruited at Yale University. It was the latest stop for the NYPD in a hiring campaign that includes Ivy League schools and other elite colleges.
The NYPD has recruited almost exclusively in New York City and on military bases in the past. But the current campaign includes stops at Harvard, Temple and Howard Universities, said Officer Anastacio Roxas, a recruiter for the police department.
Last week, the department recruited at Columbia University, where more than 50 students signed up to train for the department’s entrance test, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. Since the current recruitment campaign’s launch less than a month ago, the NYPD already has received nearly 10,000 applications, most of them filed online, Roxas said.
At Yale on Wednesday, Inspector James Waters said the NYPD offers a wide variety of jobs to suit the interests of a diverse group of people. He described colleagues who have served in medical units, trained police dogs and worked undercover.
“We need the best and the brightest to support our increasingly complex mission,” Waters told about a dozen students. “That’s why we’re reaching out to you. There’s something in this job for everyone in this room.”
Waters said many applicants are interested in the police jobs because of the public service aspects.
“I really respect what they do,” said Yale senior Antoine Munfakh, 21, who attended the recruiting session. “Yale has a strong tradition of public service, but the NYPD has never really made its presence felt here.”
Originally from Manhasset, N.Y., Munfakh said the work of the NYPD has become even more meaningful in the wake of Sept. 11.
Eli Muller, a junior majoring in English, said he was planning a career in criminal investigation before the terrorist attacks. He said that it was only after Sept. 11, however, that his friends and family understood and accepted his decision.
Many students took home applications and were expected to send them to New York police officials in the upcoming days and weeks.