The Warmer Side of Police Officers
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For most of us, our image of a police officer is usually associated with something unpleasant.
But Scott Baker, a former New York City officer, and freelance writer Tom Philbin say most people don’t see police officers as real people with cares, worries and, most of all, concern for the people they serve.
In their book, A Warmer Shade of Blue: Stories From New York’s Finest at Their Finest, they tell the stories of New York City police officers who have gone out of their way and sometimes stretched the rules to help people.
Some of the stories are extraordinary—officers risking their jobs to help people, such as the cop who drove his patrol car out of Manhattan to Bergen County, N.J., to aid a sick child. But all the stories have one common aspect: They touch the heart and perhaps in some small way make people look at the police differently.
Other stories are quite ordinary, everything from a policeman changing an old lady’s tire in the rain—after which she hands the officer, who is dripping wet, a handkerchief to dry himself—or another officer buying a pizza for a family who could not afford to eat.
