Hundreds of new officers join the family in blue Wednesday. City officials made sure to highlight all of the colors that make up the NYPD during a time when race and immigration continue to be hot button issues across the country. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report:

"Congratulations!"

And with that, 448 rookie cops graduated from the city’s Police Academy on Wednesday. Police Commissioner James O’Neill told them they're beginning a career that will change their lives and the lives of others.

"Don't be fooled: People like cops, they understand what our job is,” he said. “Make sure you understand what your No. 1 priority is and that's to fight crime and to keep the people of this great city safe."

Like other recent classes, the new officers form a remarkable mosaic: They come from 41 countries and speak 45 languages.

At a time there is so much talk from the White House about limiting immigration, Mayor de Blasio and his top cop highlighted the graduates' diversity, noting that one of the new officers is a Muslim who was just 5 years old when Islamic extremists attacked the World Trade Center on 9/11.

"In that time as a young boy, a woman walked up to Officer Nasser one day and told him literally, quote unquote, ‘Go back to your country!’ Well, here's the truth: Mikaeel Nasser's country is the United States of America.

And he is joining over a 1,000 proud Muslim-American officers in the NYPD who serve all of us."

There were familiar stories about officers following family members onto the force, but one of those stories has a twist. One officer's father and grandmother were police officers-- in China.

"Police officer Jessica Zhang who came to the United States from China just six years ago, became a citizen two years ago.  And today is the first member of her family to join the NYPD," the commissioner said.

The NYPD says 33 percent of this graduating class is white, another 33 percent is Hispanic, 16 percent black and14 percent Asian. About 70 percent of the new officers live in the five boroughs.

The police commissioner told the rookies they must understand that they must get along with all New Yorkers.

"Whether it is one person that you encounter or whether it is a family , or even if it is someone you might have to arrest, treat them with dignity and treat them with respect," he said.

The commissioner added that when cops do that, the respect will be returned to them by the communities they serve and patrol.