For the past few years, I've been bitching mightily about my former fellow police officers, the Oath Keepers (the ones who claim that they and only they understand the intent of the Framers), the ones who drive like demons in city-owned cars because they can, the ones who kick handcuffed women because they feel "threatened," the ones who choke out paramedics on emergency calls, the thugs with badges who disgrace a once-honorable profession, the ones who pervert their oaths, the ones who oppress those they are supposed to protect.
Well, I am proud to say there are still cops like the ones who inspired me, who led me to think as a kid that there was nothing more important than helping others.
And, simply to make things even better, after all the negative publicity for years, after Amadou Diallo, after pepper-spraying moron Anthony "Tony Baloney" Bologna, after Abner Louima, of course it had to be...
... an NYPD officer who...
... bought a pair of boots for a barefoot homeless man.
NYPD OFFICER LARRY DePRIMO, YOU ARE A GOOD MAN AND A GOOD COP.
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Sad to say, the boots are probably already hocked at a pawn shop for cash to feed whatever this junky's addiction is. Still, I agree that it's nice to hear about a cop who tries to do the right thing rather than a cop who is on a power trip.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Too-cynical Penguin
One of the NY Times articles on this case (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/nyregion/new-york-officer-lauded-for-giving-boots-to-barefoot-man.html) quotes a woman saying she also bought boots for a homeless man last year, allegedly for the same man, and another woman is quoted as saying she saw the homeless guy just a couple of days later, again barefoot, so -- unfortunately -- you're probably correct.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, regardless of the outcome, DePrimo went against the grain of the current crop of NYPD officers, and did the right thing. Will he become more cynical, and less believing, as a result of this? Probably.
But maybe not. And that's what I'm hoping for: that whatever happens with this specific homeless man, that DePrimo remembers we are all human, we are all deserving of respect and compassion, and most of all, I hope he remembers it could happen to any of us.