NYPD welcomes teens, young adults to winter internship program: ‘I was in that chair when I was your age’

The NYPD’s winter interns got a primer from a former rookie at a recent welcome event at police headquarters in Manhattan.

“I was sitting in that chair when I was your age,” Chief of Department Jefferey Maddrey told about 70 teens and young adults who were at One Police Plaza Monday for the Work, Learn & Grow Employment Program. 

“Three years later, four years later, I was a police officer,” the NYPD’s top uniformed cop said. “A very tough thing for me. I was 20 years old. I couldn’t walk into a store and buy a beer. But I was sitting on the corner with a gun in my bag, oftentimes telling people twice my age, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that, you have to calm down, you have to turn this way.’”

The program participants, who are between 16 and 21, will work in part-time paid positions with the department for $16 an hour until April. 

“Think about it,” Maddrey said. “We got helicopter airplane pilots. We have accountants, we have electricians, we have lawyers, dog handlers, you name it.”

The department also has internships in building maintenance at headquarters and in the NYPD’s automotive shop.