Don’t Forget Your Calling!

“To Protect and Serve…”

Never forget that police have the opportunity to do good — to make bad things to begin to go right and to help people in distress. That’s what it means to “serve.” Protection follows. The below article comes from Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of PERF. A gentle reminder that most police have done, and will continue to do, kind, compassionate, and serving work; that is make a positive difference in other people’s lives.

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“On a cold night in November 2012, NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo came upon a man who was barefoot and appeared to be homeless. Officer DePrimo responded with an act of kindness that went above and beyond his training and policy manual, like officers across the country do every day. The New York Times describedwhat happened:

“The officer, normally assigned to the Sixth Precinct in the West Village, readily recalled the encounter. ‘It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,’ he said in an interview. ‘I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.’ They started talking; he found out the man’s shoe size: 12.

“As the man walked slowly down Seventh Avenue on his heels, Officer DePrimo went into a Sketchers shoe store at about 9:30 p.m. ‘We were just kind of shocked,’ said Jose Cano, 28, a manager working at the store that night. ‘Most of us are New Yorkers and we just kind of pass by that kind of thing. Especially in this neighborhood.’

“Mr. Cano volunteered to give the officer his employee discount to bring down the regular $100 price of all-weather boots to a little more than $75. The officer has kept the receipt in his vest since then, he said, ‘to remind me that sometimes people have it worse.’”