New York Laws
Title A - Examinations and Eligible Lists
58 - Requirements for Provisional or Permanent Appointment of Certain Police Officers.

(a) he or she is not less than twenty years of age as of the date of
appointment nor more than thirty-five years of age as of the date when
the applicant takes the written examination, provided that the maximum
age requirement of thirty-five years of age as set forth in this
paragraph shall not apply to eligible lists finalized pursuant to an
examination administered prior to May thirty-first, nineteen hundred
ninety-nine or a police officer in the department of environmental
conservation, provided, however, that:
(i) time spent on military duty or on terminal leave, not exceeding a
total of six years, shall be subtracted from the age of any applicant
who has passed his or her thirty-fifth birthday as provided in
subdivision ten-a of section two hundred forty-three of the military
law;
(ii) such maximum age requirement of thirty-five years shall not apply
to any police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of section
1.20 of the criminal procedure law, who was continuously employed by the
Buffalo municipal housing authority between January first, two thousand
five and June thirtieth, two thousand five and who takes the next
written exam offered after the effective date of this subparagraph by
the city of Buffalo civil service commission for employment as a police
officer in the city of Buffalo police department, or June thirtieth, two
thousand six, whichever is later; and
(iii) such maximum age requirement of thirty-five years shall not
apply to any police officer of any county, town, city or village police
force not otherwise provided for in this section if the eligible list
has been exhausted and there are no other eligible candidates; provided,
however, the police officer themselves are on the eligible list of such
county, town, city or village and meet all other requirements of merit
and fitness set forth by this chapter and do not exceed the maximum age
of thirty-nine;
(b) he or she is a high school graduate or a holder of a high school
equivalency diploma issued by an education department of any of the
states of the United States or a holder of a comparable diploma issued
by any commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States or by
the Canal Zone or a holder of a report from the United States armed
forces certifying his or her successful completion of the tests of
general educational development, high school level;
(c) he or she satisfies the height, weight, physical and psychological
fitness requirements prescribed by the municipal police training council
pursuant to the provisions of section eight hundred forty of the
executive law; and
(d) he or she is of good moral character as determined in accordance
with the background investigation standards of the municipal police
training council pursuant to the provisions of section eight hundred
forty of the executive law.
1-b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other section of law,
general, special or local, in political subdivisions maintaining a
police department serving a population of one hundred fifty thousand or
less, no person shall be eligible for appointment nor shall he or she be
appointed to any rank above the rank of police officer unless he or she

has been appointed a police officer from an eligible list established
according to merit and fitness as provided by section six of article
five of the constitution of the state of New York or has previously
served as a member of the New York state police.
1-c. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other section of law,
general, special or local, any political subdivision maintaining a
police department serving a population of one hundred fifty thousand or
less and with positions for more than four full-time police officers,
shall maintain the office of chief of police.
2. The provisions of this section shall not prevent any county, city,
town, village, housing authority, transit authority, police district or
the department of environmental conservation from setting more
restrictive requirements of eligibility for its police officers, except
the maximum age to be a police officer as provided in paragraph (a) of
subdivision one of this section.
3. As used in this section, the term "police officer" means a police
officer in the department of environmental conservation, the state
university police, a member of the regional state park police or a
police force, police department, or other organization of a county,
city, town, village, housing authority, transit authority or police
district, who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime
and the enforcement of the general criminal laws of the state, but shall
not include any person serving as such solely by virtue of his or her
occupying any other office or position, nor shall such term include a
sheriff, under-sheriff, commissioner of police, deputy or assistant
commissioner of police, chief of police, deputy or assistant chief of
police or any person having an equivalent title who is appointed or
employed to exercise equivalent supervisory authority.
4. (a) Any person who has received provisional or permanent
appointment in the competitive class of the civil service as a police
officer of the regional state park police, the state university of New
York police, the department of environmental conservation or any police
force or police department of any county, city, town, village, housing
authority, transit authority or police district shall be eligible to
resign from any police force or police department, and to be appointed
as a police officer in the same or any other police force or police
department without satisfying the age requirements set forth in
paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section at the time of such
second or subsequent appointment, provided such second or subsequent
appointment occurs within thirty days of the date of resignation.
(b) Any person who has received permanent appointment in the
competitive class of the civil service as a police officer of the
regional state park police, the state university of New York police, the
department of environmental conservation or any police force or police
department of any county, city, town, village, housing authority,
transit authority or police district shall be eligible to resign from
any police force or police department and, subject to such civil service
rules as may be applicable, shall be eligible for reinstatement in the
same police force or police department or in any other police force or
police department to which he or she was eligible for transfer, without
satisfying the age requirements set forth in paragraph (a) of
subdivision one of this section at the time of such reinstatement,
provided such reinstatement occurs within one year of the date of
resignation.
(c) (i) Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature hereby
finds and declares that it is frequently impracticable to ascertain
fitness for the positions of detective and investigator within various
police or sheriffs departments around the state by means of a

competitive examination due to the unique nature of the duties assigned
and the intangible personal qualities needed to perform such duties. The
legislature further finds that competitive examination has never been
employed in many police, correction or sheriffs departments, to
ascertain fitness for the positions of detective and investigator within
such police, correction or sheriffs departments; such fitness has always
been determined by evaluation of the capabilities of an individual (who
has in any case received permanent appointment to the position of police
officer, correction officer of any rank or deputy sheriff) by
supervisory personnel. The legislature further finds that an individual
who performs in an investigatory position in a manner sufficiently
satisfactory to the appropriate supervisors to hold such an assignment
for a period of eighteen months, has demonstrated fitness for the
position of detective or investigator within such police, correction or
sheriffs department at least as sufficiently as could be ascertained by
means of a competitive examination.
(ii) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any jurisdiction,
other than a city with a population of one million or more or the state
department of corrections and community supervision, which does not
administer examinations for designation to detective or investigator,
any person who has received permanent appointment to the position of
police officer, correction officer of any rank or deputy sheriff and is
temporarily assigned to perform the duties of detective or investigator
shall, whenever such assignment to the duties of a detective or
investigator exceeds eighteen months, be permanently designated as a
detective or investigator and receive the compensation ordinarily paid
to persons in such designation.
(iii) Nothing contained in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph shall
be construed to limit any jurisdiction's ability to administer
examinations for appointment to the positions of detective and
investigator, provided however that any person temporarily assigned to
perform the duties of detective or investigator within the period
commencing September twenty-third, nineteen hundred ninety-three through
and including the date upon which this paragraph shall have become a law
and who has not been designated as a detective or investigator and who
has not been subject to an examination for which there is a certified
eligible list, shall be permanently designated as a detective or
investigator whenever such assignment to the duties of detective or
investigator exceeds eighteen months.
(iv) Detectives and investigators designated since September
twenty-third, nineteen hundred ninety and prior to February
twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred ninety-five by any state, county, town,
village or city (other than a city with a population of one million or
more or the state department of corrections and community supervision)
police, correction or sheriffs department, pursuant to the provisions of
this paragraph in effect during such period, who continue to serve in
such positions, shall retain their detective or investigator status
without any right to retroactive financial entitlement.
* 5. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the police
department of the city of New York or to the investigatory personnel of
the office of the district attorney in any county, including any county
within the city of New York.
* NB Effective until October 16, 2023
* 5. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the
investigatory personnel of the office of the district attorney in any
county, including any county within the city of New York.
* NB Effective October 16, 2023

6. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any individual
holding the position of deputy sheriff in Westchester county prior to
July first, nineteen hundred seventy-nine upon the transfer of such
individual to service in the Westchester county department of public
safety services.