New York, NY – NYPD Has Trouble Recruiting.

New York, NY – The city wants to put more police officers on the street but it’s having trouble finding people to wear the blue.

Last January’s recruit class was about half empty, and officials are preparing for another slim class in July.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg added funds to the budget for the department to hire 800 more officers, but the jobs haven’t been filled and the NYPD has reportedly been left with a large budget surplus.

The paper says many would-be officers leave the academy for financial reasons. The starting salary for a city officer is about $25,000 — a fraction of what some neighboring agencies offer. [NY1]