Inspirational

A year ago this week, I was walking in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. I noticed the ground was covered with brown leaves and only a couple of days before they were not there. I took a quick photo. I love taking photos and I pay a lot of attention to the craft of my…

Days after September 11th, 2001, I opened a hand written letter delivered to my office. At the time I was a two star Chief in the NYPD, Chief of Brooklyn South. The writer expressed his gratitude for what police officers did that day, and remembered those who died. I was a younger man, jumping to…

Two years ago today, a man died, serving all of us. Did you ever look out from our Rockaway Beach and notice that cluster of cargo ships off in the distance, about 10 nautical miles out? A little more than half of all the imported goods come to the United States from cargo ships. Many…

During a recent trip to Washington DC, I took an Uber to my visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I expected it to be an emotionally draining and impactful visit, so as soon as I got in the car I put my head down in my phone to clear as many emails and texts as…

Several years ago I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC for the first time. It impacted me in a way that nothing else has in my life. Recently, I extended a business trip to DC for one full day, just so I could see the museum again, with no place else to go,…

As most of our Rockaway residents probably know, they have been doing significant work on the beach, building rock jetties to try to stop the erosion. A few months ago, during an early morning walk on the boardwalk, I stopped to talk to a few of the construction workers. They were standing together chatting, just…

A wonderful thing about life is that people touch us along the way and bring us the gifts that last long after they leave us. I was in a classroom on the second floor of the 61st Precinct, Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, the day after I graduated from the Police Academy, in December 1981. Speakers…

I have learned that after we experience something in life and we look back, we have a clearer understanding of what actually happened. During the last two years police officers have been vilified, assaulted and murdered at levels we have not seen in decades. Today, our hearts are broken as our city and nation mourns…

There is so much we share in humanity, and so much that each of us share in this amazing American experience. Each of us – or our ancestors – picked up their lives from places all over the world, sometimes at great risk, with nothing but the clothes they wore, and came here to find…

A couple of years ago I spent a few solemn hours visiting the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites in Hawaii. It’s a visit I will never forget, and its profound impact stays with me. This week, we will again remember and honor those American soldiers and sailors who died that day, 80 years ago. 2,400 were…