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Read the press release here.

9 Rookie Port Authority Officers Fired After Drunken Graduation Party

By Murray Weiss | November 7, 2014 4:19pm
 A Port Authority Police Department banner is posted on a barbed wire fence outside Ground Zero and One World Trade Center on March 21, 2014.
A Port Authority Police Department banner is posted on a barbed wire fence outside Ground Zero and One World Trade Center on March 21, 2014.
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Andrew Burton/Getty Images

NEW YORK — Nine rookie Port Authority Police officers were fired for drunkenly groping patrons and flashing their badges inside a bar during a wild police academy graduation bash, sources told DNAinfo New York.

Another three probationary officers were also suspended as a result from the day-long debauchery at the Texas Arizona Bar and Grill in Hoboken, N.J.. that followed their Aug. 22 graduation ceremony at the Dunn Sport Center in Elizabeth, N.J.

In addition, a lieutenant who was their instructor and three sergeants also face disciplinary action, sources said. The lieutenant was allegedly drinking and slept through most of the raucous activities.

“On The Inside” initially disclosed the scandal on September 3.

The drunken newly minted officers — still wearing their uniforms were caught on videotape pouring themselves beers behind the bar, making lewd remarks to female patrons and grabbing at least one woman’s butt, sources say.

When bar employees and bouncers finally moved in to calm down the throng, several of the rookies flashed their badges and defiantly said they could do what they wanted now that they were full-fledged officers.

Their bad behavior did not even stop when local Hoboken police officers were summoned to the bar as well as their own Port Authority supervisors.

Making matters worse, sources said, was the fact that the drunken hijinks followed a poignant graduation ceremony that included hiring of the first son of fallen 9/11 officer to join the force since the collapse of the Twin Towers. That rookie was not among the party goers.

Rookie officers can be fired — without recourse — within 18 months of their graduation.

The Port Authority did not immediately comment.