4 hours ago
1
An NYPD inspector was quietly bumped from his police academy job for allegedly keeping dozens of recruits on board — even after they failed to meet the department’s mental health standards, law-enforcement sources said.
Terrell Anderson, who led the NYPD’s “Candidate Assessment Division,” was transferred to the housing unit May 12 as part of an Internal Affairs Bureau probe into claims he allowed more than 70 candidates to stay at the Police Academy despite them failing psych requirements.
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Anderson was transferred and said the department does not comment on internal investigations.
Among the troubled recruits allegedly kept on by Anderson was the nephew of ex-NYPD Lt. Quathisha Epps — the former department bigwig implicated in a tawdry sex-for-OT scandal, the sources said.
Epps was the highest paid cop on the force when she retired in December over the shocking sex scandal, reeling in $400,000 a year in salary and overtime, The Post previously reported.
According to the sources, Anderson claimed he had gotten a call from Epps telling him to keep her young relative Emilio Andino at the academy, though he should have been disqualified.
Anderson claimed to investigators that various NYPD brass also pushed him to keep other non-qualified recruits on board, because the department was desperate to fill its depleted ranks, according to the sources.
The claims are part of the ongoing IAB investigation, the sources said.
Andino remains at the academy despite getting suspended last month for allegedly slapping another recruit, the sources said.
He has since filed filed a lawsuit claiming the scuffle stemmed from a campaign of discrimination fueled by his aunt’s public sex scandal.
Attorney Eric Sanders, who represents Andino and Epps in her own “whistleblower” lawsuit against the city and the department, did not respond for a request for comment Thursday.
He addressed Andino’s claims in a press release last month.
“This case exemplifies how institutions retaliate not only against whistleblowers—but also those connected to them,” Sanders said. “Andino didn’t violate policy, commit a crime, or fail to perform. He was targeted because of who his aunt is and what she dared to expose.”
Sources said the department has been facing pressure to shore up its dwindling ranks, with that extending to Anderson, who was in charge of recruit assessment.
NYPD staffing numbers have plummeted in recent years, with 34,475 unformed officers this year down from 40,200 in 2000.
The crisis prompted Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to lower some standards for recruits, reinstating the 1.5 mile timed run but reducing college credit requirements and other measures in February.
Last month, the department graduated its first class since the standards were eased, with the city announcing a target of 35,000 cops in uniform by next year.
Before she retired, Epps had a lot of pull in the department due to her assignment to former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who she later accused of extorting her for sex.
She claimed that Maddrey repeatedly coaxed her into demeaning sexual encounters in exchange for favors and hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime, The Post revealed in December.
Maddrey, who described the trysts as consensual, abruptly retired after the scandal broke.
— Additional reporting by Tina Moore and Joe Marino
English (US)