The city sheriff’s office is weathering an internal storm after a senior investigator says she was kicked off her post for refusing to cut corners on required background checks for last year’s academy recruits. The veteran staffer says she flagged problems in dozens of candidate files and was removed from the background investigations unit in March 2025, just as the office was trying to push through a record-sized class of new deputies.
In an exclusive account to the tabloid, the supervisor said she pushed back when higher-ups pressed her to clear applicants before their vetting was finished, then found herself reassigned not long after. She said the 2025 hiring surge brought more than 80 candidates into the pipeline and that some were allowed into the academy even though their checks were not fully complete. The Department of Finance, which oversees the sheriff’s office, has reportedly asked the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to take over background checks for upcoming classes, according to the report.
Academy Problems And Prior Oversight
The allegations are landing on top of earlier questions about how the sheriff’s academy handled training during its hiring expansion. The New York Daily News reported that the 2025 academy class, which ultimately graduated about 83 deputies in June, was delayed after the Department of Investigation found some instructors were not properly certified by the state. That finding forced retraining and extra paperwork and raised broader questions about how thoroughly recruits were being trained and vetted in the rush to staff up, per New York Daily News.
Alleged Red Flags In Recent Hires
The reassigned investigator told the paper that the 2025 cohort included candidates whose records would normally slow or even halt hiring. She cited one applicant convicted of assault in Florida, another who allegedly owed about $500,000 in federal and state taxes, and a former corrections employee accused of having an illicit relationship with a detainee. Those examples were part of her list of red flags that she says were downplayed or overridden.
City Response And Oversight
The sheriff’s office has previously said it was complying with state training rules and working to address the Department of Investigation’s findings. According to the New York Daily News, DOI recommended that the sheriff’s academy secure written approvals from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services for both instructors and course methods, and the agency retrained recruits while it waited for final certification.
City materials note that the Sheriff’s Office operates under the Department of Finance, which handles the agency’s administrative functions, helping explain why any shakeup in hiring and vetting would involve multiple city offices, per the NYC Department of Finance…