There is an ongoing effort to adjust the upper age limit to take the civil service exam to become a police officer in New York. Currently the limit is 35 years old with few exceptions, and a bill making its way through the state Legislature would increase it to 40 in certain cases.

“As far as the recruitment portion of recruitment and retention that everybody talks about, I think this would be a big boost for us,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.

He told Spectrum News 1 that much has changed since New York’s age limit for taking the civil service exam to become an officer was established.

“I think people are living longer, I think people are living healthier,” he said.

He argued that nowadays, applicants in that age range of 35-40 can bring valuable characteristics to the job.

“By raising the age, I think we are opening the pool up for a more mature candidate, and they probably have the one part that is most important which is life experience,” he said.

Apple explained that widespread recruitment challenges across law enforcement have drastically decreased the number of people taking the civil service exam, and therefore moving on to subsequent steps of the hiring process.

He argued there is a need to widen the pool of candidates taking the exam, and following through, beyond the primarily early 20-somethings who are taking the test now.

The bill’s sponsor, state Assemblymember John McDonald, stressed that the issue has progressed to the point where a legislative solution is needed.

“The number of people of people taking the exam is down by over 60%, that should wake us up to say ‘there is something wrong,’” he said.

He emphasized too, that police work has changed significantly over the years, and New York state law should evolve to reflect that.

“The days of Starsky & Hutch and running down the streets and jumping over walls, you’ll see it on TV you don’t see it too often, thankfully, here,” he said. “It’s more about verbal skills and working with people.”

Apple added that he feels even the physical standards by which recruits train could also be better adjusted to fit the times.

“Tweaking some of those to do something more like NYPD, where you have to carry a mannequin that’s 250 pounds, if I have to run after somebody for a mile and a half, we’ve got a lot of problems.”

With the civil service exam taking place this week, both are also arguing for quicker turnaround times for those exams to increase the number of opportunities for people to take them.