A New York police inspector was transferred after allowing dozens of prospective officers to continue in the hiring process even though they failed to meet mental health standards set by the department, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Terrell Anderson, who had commanded the candidate assessment division, was sent to the housing unit because officials learned he had overridden negative psychological reports for 80 candidates. That allowed them to go into the Police Academy even though they should have been disqualified based on their psychological assessments, according to the two people.

It is not clear how many of the candidates went on to graduate from the academy and become police officers. The psychological reports had been overridden over the past several years, according to one of the people.

In a statement, the police said that Inspector Anderson had been transferred and that the matter was under investigation. The inspector declined to comment.

The inspector’s decisions came as the department, the nation’s largest police force, has been hemorrhaging officers. The department’s head count has been falling since 2020. There were 33,531 uniformed officers in the department as of April 1, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office, down from a peak of 40,000 in 2000.

Inspector Anderson, who was transferred to the housing unit on May 12, joined the department in 2004 and has no history of disciplinary problems, according to police records. He has been cited for excellent or meritorious police duty 38 times, according to police records, and has been lauded as an innovative officer who has tried to work more closely with community leaders in troubled precincts.