Rookie Cop Scores First Arrest Right Away (NYPD)

[Renew Deal]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (July 6) - A New York Police Department rookie just couldn't wait to get started. One of the NYPD's newest officers made his first arrest Thursday just minutes after graduating from the Police Academy in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden.

Officer Dariel Firpo, 23, was leaving the midtown Manhattan ceremony when he saw a 79-year-old man being robbed of his wallet and thrown to the ground by a mugger, police said.

The mugger tried to run away, but Firpo caught him without incident, they said.

"Officer Firpo made us all proud," police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. "He's off to a great start."


Read more: http://news.aol.com/article/nypd-rookie-nabs-first-arrest-right/555075

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Hey Officer Firpo :yourock:

[trumad]

1. A feel good police story---

about time

[VWolf]

6. Amen.

Let's hope the system doesn't corrupt him like it has so many others.

[DeSwiss]

2. Great! Just the kind of cops we need.

- He didn't use a taser....

[Renew Deal]

9. I don't think the NYPD issues tasers

Only the senior officers have access to them IIRC.

[drm604]

3. Good for Officer Firpo! n/t

[Alcibiades]

4. This is also a stupid criminal story

Mugging old men outside the police academy graduation service is pretty dumb.

[eyepaddle]

16. Hmmm, you do raise a good point! nt

[Posteritatis]

32. Stupid criminals and good cops - two great tastes that taste great together! (nt)

[Vidar]

5. Applauding Officer Firpo. I'm not generally a cop fan.

[No Elephants]

7. Nice, but, isn't a cop supposed to make an arrest when he or she witnesses a crime?

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone got such kudos for doing their job without beating someone senseless?

[Common Sense Party]

18. I think a jerk who knocks a 79-year old to the ground deserves a

little bit of a beating. Not senseless, but enough to remember.

(No, I'm not serious. But a-holes who prey on the elderly are subhuman and worthy of scorn.)

[subcomhd]

31. deleted due to - I'm an idiot

sorry

[armodem08]

33. Nice, but don't some people read stories without making unnecessary negative comments? nt.

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. "Firpo caught him without incident" Good for him. Now, if he can stay away from

the donuts...

[Sanity Claws]

11. Thanks for making me smile

[whopis01]

15. on edit: nevermind - I should read more carefully... n/t

[pleah]

10. Good for him. I hope he

keeps on the right path.

[bertman]

12. Excellent story. Thanks Renew Deal. Too often we forget that the police DO protect us

from the elements of society who have no respect for 79 year-olds and any others who are unable to protect themselves.

Especially here on DU, we hear the ugly side of corrupt police actions. Rightly so, and we need to always be vigilant and demand better from our police. BUT, we also need to remember the many good things that our police do for us every day as well as how dangerous their jobs are.

Congratulations, Officer Firpo.

[paulsby]

22. we also don't hear about the thousands of good arrests

of arrests that go off without a hitch. guys get arrested all the time, even holding guns and knives, without incident, or injury. we only hear about it when it's newsworthy, which means we hear about the ones where the guy gets injured or killed, or special cases like this case.

you don't hear about the cops who work 25 yrs without even an excessive force complaint, let alone an actual incident of excessive force. heck, i've worked 20 yrs w/o one.

you don't hear that the average cop fires his gun line of duty about once every 12 yrs.

assuming an arrest a week (very conservative), that's a gun firing once every 7000 arrests.

you don't hear about most of the good that cops do.

but one statistic is telling. when people are polled, their respect for police and police officers is always very high. it's amongst the most respected of professions. feel free to check that. that's because most people understand the real story, not the "bleed it leads" anamolies.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

24. This is an excellent subthread

thanks to you both :hi:

[bertman]

30. My pleasure, Blanche. I have only had to call the police for aid on a few occasions

and was always very happy to see them when they arrived. Also, they were very professional and courteous.

Now, during a few routine traffic stops I have met some buttholes, but there's always that 10%--no matter what profession.

[paulsby]

34. a formula i once heard

was the in pretty much any profession, about 90% of participants are relatively inert. iow, they do what's required of them, don't make waves, and do a competent if not a great job.

5 % are really good.

5 % are either really incompetent or corrupt.

given the amount of power and the amount of judgment calls cops make as a function of their job (we don't run away from dangerous, tense situations, we run towards them... (a repo man's life is always intense)) there is much more potential for extreme incidents to emerge. i mean in the course of a career, i've dealt with HUNDREDS (if not thousands) of drunk, aggressive assholes. HUNDREDS of emotionally disturbed and often violent people, HUNDREDS of distraught victims, oceans of blood, etc. stuff is going to happen.

even given a competent, ethical professional, with sufficient "n", sooner or later he's gonna screw up for example. god knows i have. we're human, not perfect.

[bertman]

36. I don't know how accurate the formula is, but I think it's a good attempt to describe

the variations.

I'm sure you're right about everything else you said. Dealing with belligerent, maybe drunken, assholes is not something that anyone should have to do. Doing it on a regular basis has to be beyond the imagination of us everyday folks.

I know that there is a strong sense of "brotherhood" among police officers, but I wish they would be more diligent about rooting out their bad apples. Those few miscreants make it hard for the rest.

And then we have the ongoing militarization and what I would call, the right-wing-ization of our police forces. For me, that is the scariest part.

This masked, black-outfitted, secret police, M-16 armed motif is police-state, fascist from the gitgo.

But, thank you for serving and protecting us. And for your valuable input and perspective on DU. Be safe, Paulsby.

:thumbsup:

[paulsby]

38. thanks

fwiw, i agree about the militarization. this is true in government, in general. that government agencies, sub agencies, et. tend to want to increase their power. govt. is biased towards expanding its power not retracting it. that's why i lean libertarian so often on so many issues. (sesmall "l"), because i know that increasing govt. power which people SO often want to do, even here, needs to be considered very carefully. SWAT teams for instance save many many lives, but by design, they are going to want to increase their power and justify their existence and expansion by claiming they are needed/justified in more minor type warrants that should NOT be done by SWAT.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

37. This has been my experience too, on both accounts

And just as an interesting *coff, choke* aside...

One of my worst experiences was with a cop, and even more so, a judge, in a tiny town near me-- a tiny, rural, extremely Evangelistic Xtian, conservative, republican town. Yech, I don't even want to go into the story; let's just say I got to experience their traffic ticket $$ collecting scam, up close and personal. (a mechanic/tow truck guy from that town told me about how it's an ongoing racket of theirs)

[BlancheSplanchnik]

25. indeed :) n/t

[Roon]

13. A little off topic

But this makes me so angry that the elderly are victimzed. Only a gutless coward would do such a thing

[Captain Hilts]

14. Wow! Just like Batman! Well done! nt

[AngryAmish]

17. A buddy of mine was a cop two days and caught a murderer

He was eating lunch at a beef stand and a foot pursuit was called in his area. As he was putting down his beef he saw the guy run past the front of the stand. He ran him down and cuffed him. Turned out he just killed someone. Pure dumb luck.

[Common Sense Party]

19. What's a beef stand?

[vanbean]

20. Arby's?

[Common Sense Party]

23. I was thinking perhaps a stand that sells Philly Cheese Steaks.

But I have no idea.

Whatever they are, we don't have them out here.

[AngryAmish]

26. Italian Beef

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_beef>

[Common Sense Party]

29. Ah. Thanks.

I was not familiar with the term.

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. Well..."pure dumb luck"... along with the training and authority to cuff the perp!

Another example of why we need cops to be on foot patrol more and sitting in cars less. Hardly any innocent bystanders get hurt in foot pursuits...Police chases (in cars) are a whole different matter. Far too often deadly.

[blackbooks]

27. Agreed. The cops in my town could stand to park and walk a few blocks.

Not just for their health, either. Like a lot of cities, there's a definite disconnect between the badge and the townsfolk.

It would do my neighbors good to see cops that can actually be approached and spoken to, and it would do the cops good to see the public as more than just potential victims and potential perpetrators.

[paulsby]

35. my agency in the last 10 years

has not had a SINGLE fatality pursuant to a vehicle pursuit. i'm talking a LOT of pursuits. good training, and good policies, and agressive policy (PIT maneuver, etc.) help.

and of course, thus, you probably haven't heard about any of them. when somebody is killed, be assured it will make the evening news, statewide, if not nationwide. bleeds, it leads.

a neighboring agency had an officer put a suspect in a coma by tackling recently on a foot pursuit. tragic, but lawful case. the officer tackled the guy after a several block long pursuit, after a witness claimed the guy had been involved in a stabbing that had just occurred. turns out the guy was mistakenly identified by the witness, and actually wasn't involved. see 20/20 hindsight. but when he refused to stop, the guy chased him. and of course it made all the local news, etc. very sad case, but clearly not an excessive force (imo) incident.

but you are right, "collateral" damage is rare in foot pursuits.

[Regret My New Name]

28. Fascist pig! I hope the man he attacked sues him and the police department...

Just kidding... made you click. ;)

What kind of piece of shit throws an eighty year old man on to the ground? Glad Mr.Firpo was there to get the prick.