One advantage the department has is that it can be more selective about recruits as interest has increased. Two former Police Academy officials said in interviews that they could not recall anyone during their tenure who had worked on Wall Street and become a police officer.

“There were teachers, security guards, painters, military, almost everything, even sales, but I don’t remember anyone from Wall Street,” said John Cerar, who spent 15 of his 26 years on the force working at the Police Academy as a supervisor, officer and administrator and retired in 1999.

Although police officials characterized the trend in glowing terms, Vincent E. Henry, a former commanding officer at the Police Academy and the author of two books about police work, said the department might have to adjust to having more highly skilled officers.

“Many Ivy League graduates joined the force and different forces around the country in the 1970s,” said Dr. Henry, who retired from the force in 2002 and is now the director of the Homeland Security Management Institute at Long Island University. “A good number didn’t stay on because the organizations were not able to keep them interested, and there was resentment from others of their degrees.”

Dr. Henry said, however, that the economy and the increased interest in the force presented the department with “a tremendous opportunity” to attract officers with significant life experiences.

For Officer Gerard Salvia, the Police Department provided an opportunity to break away from what he said was the hierarchical nature of Wall Street, where, he said, he thought he would not advance. Unlike many of his classmates in the academy, Officer Salvia, who worked as a trader’s assistant at LaBranche & Company, did not have a four-year degree.

“Guys like me don’t make managing director or partner; that was how it was 30 years ago,” Officer Salvia said. “Now, at least at the Police Department, I have the same opportunity as every police officer. If you want to go to all the special units, you need to do something to earn it. It’s not so much that you are part of a club.”