What test was she hired from, did she have military or prior service she could subtract from her age? This whole thing stinks, hope someone is fired over this!
She was hired off of list #7000. That test was given during the Summer of 2007 and the actual list wasn't established until well over a year later. Then it was extended multiple times past the 4 year mark and finally expired right as this current class went in this May. So without any military time she could have taken the test back in 2007, prior to reaching her 35th birthday, and seven (7) years later was subsequently hired. This current class is comprised of older than normal recruits considering how long it took from exam date to hire.
But I believe this 2004 NCPD class has them beat:
Vintage Crop Of Police Recruits
By SHELLY FEUER DOMASH
The New York Times
Published: February 1, 2004 WITH Nassau County's budget problems and the shrinkage of the county police department, it has been a long wait, but for the first time in four years, new recruits -- a class of 48 -- were sworn in last month as members of the Nassau County Police Department. The new recruits took their oaths on Jan. 22 and actually began their six months of training at the police academy a week earlier, ending a hiring drought that stretched back to December 1999. But the fact that they are the first rookies on the force in a while is not the most unusual thing about them. It's this:
They're old.
Older than most rookie police officers, anyway. Their average age is almost 34 and the oldest is 45, an age when officers who were hired fresh out of high school or college are already eligible for retirement on full pension.
A member of the class, one of the two women, has already quit, for what Capt. Wesley van Wallendael, the deputy commander of the police academy, would only describe as ''personal reasons.'' But other members of the class seem gung-ho.
''I have a burning desire,'' said Ricky Buckshaw, a former deli owner and the 45-year-old graybeard. ''I refuse failure. I find too much pain in failure.'' As for being the oldest in the group, he said: ''I have a mother who is 84 years old and thinks she is 20. Age is just a number.''
Deputy Inspector John Hunter, the police academy's commander, said the new recruits ''will face some challenges in order to meet New York State standards.'' But he added: ''If you look at the fact that these individuals have been on the list for 10 years it shows these individuals have shown strong motivation, and motivation is an extremely important factor in successfully completing the recruit program.''
The remaining 47 are the last to qualify by passing the 1994 police exam. It has already produced 383 officers for Nassau County and 206 for its village police departments, which hire from the same list.
The 1994 list was valid for 10 years and was due to expire on April 15, so these cadets just got in under the wire. The nail-biting ended in December, when the county notified the 48 that they were about to be invited to the police academy.
Over the last decade they have bided their time; 27 of them joined other law enforcement agencies, including the New York City, Metropolitan Transportation Authority and state courts police departments. The others have been in diverse jobs, including Long Island Rail Road conductor, delivery driver, landscaper, waiter, auto parts manager, interstate mover and account executive.
The police commissioner, James Lawrence, said he could see no special economic impact on the county from having an unusually old class of police officers.
''I don't think it matters how old they are,'' he said, discounting the new class's greater susceptibility to illness or injury. ''I'm not a physician, but I think if people maintain a certain level of fitness, they naturally would tend to be injured less than someone who didn't.''
Because members of this class will be 54, on average, when they reach the minimum 20 years of service required to draw a regular pension, the average pension payout to this class will be lower than if the class were eligible to retire 10 years younger. But Mr. Lawrence said the department would see no savings.
''I would think that someone who is older probably is not going to live as long as someone younger and probably collect a pension for less time,'' he said. ''But it will have no economic impact on the department. It is the state pension system, not in the department budget.''
Mr. Lawrence added that while the recruits may not be as physically fit as they were 10 years ago, they have other strong attributes. ''People with this amount of life experience have to be a positive,'' he said. '' ''It is all about relationships, dealing with the community, interaction with people, and naturally the older we get the better we get at doing this.''
''And,'' he noted, ''they still have to pass the physical test.''
Physical fitness standards in the academy follow New York State guidelines. For example, a man between the ages of 20 and 29 must finish a 1.5-mile run in 11 minutes and 58 seconds. For a woman, the qualifying time is 14:15. For cadets in their 30's, the standard is 12:25 for men and 15:14 for women. They are also measured in situps, pushups, pullups, flexibility and trigger-finger strength. Once they pass the physical test, they never have to take it again.
The next batch of county officers -- the county executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, has announced plans to hire 405 officers over the next 24 months -- will be drawn from the police exam given in 2002. The list of qualifiers from that exam has not yet been certified by the county civil service commission, which is completing background checks.
There was no age limit for people hired from the 1994 list, but for the 2002 list, the civil service commission changed the rules so that applicants will have to be under the age of 35 at the time of hire.
Michael Mitchell, one of the new recruits, was single when he first took the police test. Now he is 38 and married with two young children. He said he never lost faith he would get the job, and stayed in shape.
''My mother always said to have patience,'' he said. ''Whatever is good is worth fighting for and is worth waiting on, so I waited and here I am. This is my destiny.''
NY Times Archive - Vintage Crop of Police Recruits