Although the 22 new Cambridge Police Department recruits include 17 minority officers, city councillors yesterday blasted City Manager Robert W. Healy for failing to hire more city residents.

Only 13 of the new officers live in Cambridge, according to a memorandum obtained by the Crimson.

Councillors praised the diversity of the recruits. Among the new officers are three Portuguese, three Hispanic, three Asian, four Haitian and four Blacks.

The four Haitian Americans officers are the first Creole-speaking members of the department, Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 said at last night's council meeting. Cambridge has a large population of Creole-speaking Haitian immigrants.

Councillors last night criticized Healy for failing to hire more Cantabrigians. Although applicants who lived in Cambridge at least a year prior to the June, 1994 police exam received preference in hiring, residency is not required to be a police officer in Cambridge.

The new non-resident recruits live in several nearby communities, including Malden, Waltham, Brighton and Somerville.

One new officer, Jerry Jean-Baptiste, a resident of Randolph, said last night he hopes to move to Cambridge, but that high property costs have prevented him from doing so. New officers are paid $24,967 annually.

"I've never lived there, but I would like to live there," Jean-Baptiste said. "My wife is a teacher there."

Councillors last night said greater preference should be given to applicants who live in Cambridge.

"The residency preference doesn't go far enough," said Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio. "The day you swear them in, the day after they enter the academy, they leave [the city]."

Healy defended the hiring of the new officers, saying it is difficult to strike a balance between the city's desire for a diverse and bilingual police force and the need to hire cops familiar with the community.

"The alternative at this point would have been to leave the position vacant," said the manager, who directs the city's administration and finances.

Reeves hailed the diversity of the new recruits but also lamented this year's shortage of qualified Cambridge residents.

The mayor said the approximately 430 members of every graduating class at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, the city's public high school, need more information on the array of civil-service opportunities and that strong recruitment efforts are long overdue. "I don't know how in 1995 we're having this discussion," Reeves said.

But the city manager said hiring both Cantabrigians and minorities is often difficult. "I thought instead of criticism I would get some praise" for increasing the number of bilingual officers, Healy said. "I wish they were all Cambridge residents but that is not how the civil-service exam works."