NEW YORK - The Port Authority announced today that it has notified applicants regarding the selection process for the agency’s 112th Police Academy. The new class, which will begin in August, will train up to 175 police officers as part of its ongoing reform efforts to restructure the department and ensure it effectively meets its policing and security mission.

This Port Authority Police Academy class is the first since April 2009, when 127 new officers graduated.  The 2013 class will be the second largest in Port Authority history, surpassed only by the 236 recruits who graduated from the Academy in September 2002.

The agency is notifying approximately 2,800 eligible candidates who previously expressed continued interest in police jobs at the Port Authority about the new class and the steps they must take in the coming weeks to complete the application and selection process. The training class will last approximately 26 weeks and will be both physically and academically demanding.

The announcement of the new class comes just four months after the Port Authority hired its first Chief Security Officer, Joseph P. Dunne. The new class will be integral to carrying out the agency’s commitment to protecting the public and some of the nation’s most critical infrastructure.

“Our goal is to balance the need for an effective security system to safeguard Port Authority facilities and transit assets while maximizing every dollar spent on security,” said Chief Security Officer Joe Dunne. “The hiring of this agency’s first new recruits in four years will help ensure we have enough officers to do the job, and will help us more cost-effectively manage overtime expenditures while fulfilling our mission.”

Academy recruits will receive intensive training in New York and New Jersey law, behavior sciences, police practices and procedures, laws of arrest and court procedures and testimony. The recruits also will receive training in rules of evidence, defensive tactics, first aid, firefighting, police patrol and traffic duty, firearms training, defensive driving and water safety and rescue.

There are currently nearly 1,600 members of the Port Authority Police Department. The PAPD is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of all of the agency’s land, sea, air and rail facilities. This includes five airports, four bi-state bridges and two tunnels, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the PATH rail system, the regional ports in New York and New Jersey, and the 16-acre World Trade Center site.