The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has welcomed 109 cadets of its police force’s 122nd class in a graduation ceremony held this week at St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen, NJ.
The incoming class joins the agency just weeks after the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners approved the agency’s 2024 budget, which included a record investment in the agency’s safety and security operations totaling nearly $1 billion. The funding strengthens the agency’s overall security posture and advances new Port Authority Police Department initiatives in response to an evolving threat landscape.
The PAPD Academy is one of the most rigorous police academies in the country, requiring 26 weeks of training and study in New York and New Jersey laws, alongside comprehensive instruction in police procedures, firearms usage, first aid, and counterterrorism techniques. More than 41 percent of the new recruits are joining the agency with prior experience in law enforcement and 11 percent have military experience.
“The Port Authority Police Department is one of the finest police agencies in the nation, entrusted with securing some of the most critical infrastructure assets in the United States with an elite reputation of service,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “Millions of travelers and commuters rely on their expertise and police work to travel safely throughout the region, the nation and the world.”
“The safety and security of travelers using our facilities and of our employees is our top priority, so it is vitally important that we have the best of the best serving the public on our police force,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “We appreciate the intense effort and commitment required to graduate from the Port Authority Police Academy and we congratulate these 109 cadets who are joining the PAPD.”
In addition to the Port Authority’s highest-ever budgetary allocation toward security, the agency in September 2023 also bolstered its safety, security and emergency management operations with two new leadership positions and the creation of a security technology and programs department. Deputy Chief Security Officer Danielle Outlaw, a former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, now provides central oversight of major security functions. Michael Harpster is the new director of the Port Authority’s security operations department, following a two-decade career with the FBI. Harpster oversees security operations at all Port Authority facilities. Jack Niedermeyer, an agency veteran of security technology, leads a new department focused on enhancing security-related technological capabilities, along with overseeing capital security projects and developing an agency-wide insider risk program.
The incoming class bolsters the total PAPD workforce of more than 2,000 members, who are tasked with securing some of the nation’s busiest infrastructure facilities and transportation hubs within the country’s most diverse region. Both states of the bistate agency are well represented in the new class, with 54 percent of the recruits coming from New Jersey and 46 percent from New York.
Established in 1928, the PAPD is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the agency’s air, land, rail, and sea facilities, which include the New York and New Jersey airports, six bridges and tunnels, the Midtown Bus Terminal, the PATH rail system, the Port of New York and New Jersey and the 16-acre World Trade Center campus. In addition to patrol officers, the PAPD is comprised of a special operations division that includes a counter-terrorism unit, a K-9 unit, an emergency service unit, a commercial vehicle inspection unit and a motorcycle unit.
