Never Give Up
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If you are thrown seven times, you must get up eight.
As I was growing up, the thought of becoming a New York
City police officer never crossed my mind. In my teen
years I worked at many odd jobs, starting in Brooklyn’s
Prospect Park ice-skating rink and carousel. I ended up a
truck driver for a plumbing supply company, also in Brooklyn.
I remember taking a small amount of pride in that position,
since I had to work hard to earn the class-3 driver’s
license required to drive the truck. But as time went on, the
work became less and less interesting and my employment
status was at the mercy of the store staying in business. I decided
to look for something more secure and took several
civil service exams, including tests for police officer, firefighter,
sanitation worker, and other jobs. When I received
the letter from the police department indicating that I had
passed its entrance exam, I realized that it was the first time
I had a potential career to be zealous about.
In my 21 years with the police department, I have held a
host of assignments, each one more challenging than the
former. My work has ranged from, as a young policeman, performing
precinct foot and radio car patrol to plainclothes
anticrime assignments. I spent 16 exciting years with the
Emergency Service Unit (ESU), which is a tactical and rescue
unit of the NYPD. It was during my time in ESU that I would
find myself perched atop various New York City landmarks,
such as the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn
Bridge, in attempts to rescue suicidal individuals and
helping end their unremitting emotional pain. I served as a
police officer, sergeant, and lieutenant within various precincts
Source: Printed with permission from Jack J. Cambria.
and in ESU and always approached my work with compassion
and enthusiasm. The road to realizing my own personal
pinnacle of success did not come easily, but rather, was
achieved through hard work and perseverance. Reaching the
rank of lieutenant was only realized after taking two sergeant
and two lieutenant exams, which are given approximately
five years apart. I think if I had been discouraged after failing
my first sergeant’s test, I would never have had the job I now
hold and my life would have been drastically different.
My current, and probably my last, assignment in the police
department, is as commanding officer of the Hostage Negotiation
Team. Hostage negotiators are detectives who are asked
to attempt to resolve high-crisis situations using only their
words, thereby preventing a tactical deployment of the police
into a hostile environment. It is always better and safer to
have dangerous individuals come out to us, than to go in after
them. Complicated and interpersonal maneuverings are employed
in attempting to resolve these types of situations.
Perhaps the most arduous test of my fortitude came on
September 11, 2001. I first arrived at the World Trade Center
some 30 minutes after the South Tower had fallen, and I remained
there until late November, spending an average of 16
hours a day at the site to assist in the rescue and then recovery
effort. My experiences while assigned at Ground Zero will
be forever etched in my mind. Fourteen of the victims were
police officers assigned to ESU, whom I had the privilege of
personally serving with over the years. I also lost some very
close personal friends that day.
Several years ago, I was involved in martial arts training,
and I learned a very simple philosophy, which is so easily
applied to life: If you are thrown seven times, you must get
up eight. I think if we let ourselves be discouraged by life’s
various obstacles, we would not follow our dreams in pursuit
of our personal successes.