A Culture of Respect, Human
Dignity, and Ethical Leadership in Two Distinctive NYPD Commands
STATEMENT OF RECORD
The NYPD Midtown South Precinct
serves one of the most consequential and demanding policing environments in New
York City. Its area of responsibility encompasses some of the city's most
prominent commercial, transportation, entertainment, hospitality, and cultural
destinations, including Times Square, the Empire State Building, Madison Square
Garden, Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, Koreatown, and surrounding
portions of Midtown Manhattan. The precinct is headquartered at 357 West 35th
Street.
Within this extraordinary
environment operates the Times Square Unit, a distinctive NYPD command
dedicated to the unique operational and public-safety responsibilities
associated with Times Square. Although the Midtown South Precinct and Times
Square Unit are separate commands, their work converges within one of the most
visible and heavily visited areas of New York City. Together, they represent
different command structures and assignments within a common responsibility:
protecting the public while maintaining the trust, order, and security upon
which the life of the city depends.
On September 4, 2026, Vincent J.
Bove, Honorary NYPD Law Enforcement Motivational Speaker, spent the afternoon
and evening inside both commands, delivering leadership remarks during five
roll calls—three involving Midtown South Precinct personnel and two involving
the Times Square Unit. The engagement also included time with members of the
Detective Squad and individual encounters with officers, detectives, sergeants,
lieutenants, captains, and other members of the command.
More than one hundred members of
the Midtown South operation were encountered during the engagement. The size of
the individual gatherings varied considerably, from smaller roll calls
generally involving approximately eight to fifteen personnel to an unexpected
Times Square Unit gathering of nearly eighty officers.
Across those encounters,
differences in rank, assignment, and group size were evident; so too was a
shared commitment to service, protection, and responsibility.
Yet the central purpose remained
constant: to affirm the dignity of every person entrusted with the privilege
and responsibility of wearing the NYPD uniform.
MIDTOWN SOUTH AND TIMES SQUARE:
TWO DISTINCTIVE COMMANDS, ONE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT
The world knows this part of New
York City. Millions of people encounter its streets, transportation hubs,
businesses, hotels, entertainment venues, and landmarks. Times Square, long
recognized as the “Crossroads of the World,” has become an international symbol
of New York itself, while Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, Madison Square
Garden, the Empire State Building, and the surrounding Midtown district
represent the movement, commerce, culture, and daily life of one of the world's
great cities.
But beneath the extraordinary
visibility of this environment is a less visible reality: dedicated public
servants sworn to protect and serve.
Every landmark, every crowded
sidewalk, every transportation hub, every commercial corridor, and every
gathering place exists within a policing environment in which people depend
upon officers to exercise judgment, vigilance, restraint, courage, and professionalism.
The public sees the city. The protector sees the responsibility.
That responsibility gave
particular meaning to the opportunity to spend the afternoon and evening with
the personnel of the Midtown South Precinct and the Times Square Unit.
These are two distinctive commands
operating within the same extraordinary environment. Their responsibilities,
assignments, personnel, and operational circumstances are not identical. Yet
beneath those differences is a common reality: behind every assignment is a
person; behind every uniform is a human being; behind every badge is an
individual who has accepted an extraordinary responsibility on behalf of
others.
As the engagement unfolded, that
distinction became increasingly evident. Some encounters took place in smaller
gatherings; others involved a much larger assembly. There were uniformed
officers, detectives, supervisors, commanders, and individual members of
service encountered throughout the operation. The circumstances differed, but
the purpose did not.
The size of the room does not
determine the value of the person standing in it.
The purpose of the engagement was
therefore not simply to speak to police officers. It was to encounter,
encourage, and affirm the people who serve.
BEYOND THE NUMBERS: WHY THE
SIZE OF THE ROOM DOES NOT MEASURE HUMAN WORTH
The gatherings were not alike.
Four were relatively small,
generally involving approximately eight to fifteen officers. One Times
Square
Unit roll call, however, brought together nearly eighty officers, creating a
gathering considerably larger than anticipated.
From an organizational
perspective, that difference was significant. From a human perspective, it was
not.
The size of the room does not
determine the value of the person standing in it.
A large gathering may create
energy and visibility, while a smaller roll call may permit a more intimate
encounter. But neither circumstance changes the worth of the individual
officer. The officer standing in a room of eighty possesses the same inherent
dignity as the officer standing among eight.
This distinction matters in
policing because organizational life can easily become numerical. Commands
count personnel, assignments, calls for service, incidents, deployments, and
countless other measures necessary to the functioning of a modern police department.
Yet the human being who carries those responsibilities cannot be reduced to a
number.
Different assignments. Different
group sizes. Different moments.
One common denominator remained:
the human being wearing the badge.
FROM PODIUM TO PRESENCE:
LEADERSHIP AS HUMAN ENCOUNTER
Before the first roll call, I
personally brought the American flag into the muster room, where it remained
throughout the day's engagements. The podium was deliberately positioned behind
me so that I could stand close to the officers rather than remain separated
from them by a formal presentation position.
That physical decision reflected
something much larger than room arrangement.
Leadership is most meaningful when
it permits genuine encounter.
The objective was to speak with
the officers rather than simply speak at them—to be close enough to see them,
acknowledge them, and recognize that a roll call is not merely an
organizational gathering. It is a room filled with individual human beings preparing
to assume the responsibilities of a demanding profession.
At the conclusion of each
engagement, I personally shook hands with officers and addressed each by name,
using the names clearly displayed on their name tags.
The handshake became an extension
of the message.
Respect cannot remain an
abstraction. Affirmation requires encounter.
An officer may hear the language
of morale, resilience, ethical leadership, and professional pride in many
settings. But when another person looks directly at that officer, offers a
hand, and communicates genuine appreciation for the responsibility being
carried, the principle becomes personal.
That was the objective throughout
Midtown South. Not simply to deliver remarks, but to create moments of
recognition.
THE PROTECTOR IS ALSO HUMAN:
THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF POLICE LEADERSHIP
The human encounter also reveals a
deeper truth about police leadership: the protector is not separate from the
human experience that the profession asks officers to manage for others.
They arrive when people are
frightened, confused, angry, vulnerable, injured, or in danger. They are
expected to exercise composure when circumstances around them may be anything
but composed. They are required to assess situations, make decisions, manage
conflict, protect life, and carry responsibilities that most members of the
public will never fully see.
Yet the protector remains human.
That reality has profound
implications for leadership.
An organization can recognize
performance while overlooking the person performing it. It can measure outcomes
while failing to acknowledge the emotional and moral demands carried by the
people who produce those outcomes. It can speak continually about operational
readiness while neglecting the equally important question of whether its people
know that their service is valued.
Ethical leadership must address
both dimensions.
The officer is a professional, but
the officer is also a human being whose morale, sense of meaning, emotional
fortitude, and perception of personal worth influence the capacity to sustain
honorable service over time.
For more than five decades, my
understanding of this human dimension has been influenced by the writings of
Dr. Conrad W. Baars and his work concerning emotional deprivation and the
healing power of genuine affirmation. That perspective has reinforced my
conviction that recognition is not merely courtesy. Properly understood, it is
an expression of respect for the human person.
Within a police organization, that
respect can become part of the culture.
And culture matters.
TIMES SQUARE: VISIBILITY,
RESPONSIBILITY, AND THE PUBLIC TRUST
The Times Square Unit represents a
particularly distinctive expression of the NYPD mission. Its officers operate
in an environment where public visibility is constant and where the
relationship between police presence and public confidence is immediately
apparent.
Residents, commuters, workers,
tourists, businesses, families, performers, and visitors converge in Times
Square in extraordinary numbers. Policing such an environment requires
visibility, judgment, adaptability, and constant awareness of the interaction
between public activity and public safety.
During the September 4 engagement,
Captain Benjamin M. Bellingeri, Commanding Officer of the Times Square Unit,
personally welcomed me, introduced me to members of his staff, and took the
time to explain the unit's responsibilities, command structure, mission, and
operational environment.
That conversation provided an
important perspective.
The public may experience Times
Square primarily as spectacle, movement, entertainment, and excitement. The
officers assigned there experience another dimension: responsibility.
They are part of the protective
presence that allows the public to experience the square with a reasonable
expectation of safety and order. Their visibility is itself part of the
relationship between the Department and the public.
That relationship is ultimately
built upon trust.
And trust is sustained not merely
by what police officers do, but by how they conduct themselves while doing it.
THE DETECTIVE SQUAD AND THE
CONTINUITY OF THE PROTECTOR'S MISSION
The engagement extended beyond the
roll-call rooms and into the broader operation of the Midtown South Precinct.
Time was also spent with members of the Detective Squad, including an encounter
with a group of detectives, as well as with numerous officers, sergeants,
lieutenants, captains, and other members of the command encountered throughout
the hours spent inside Midtown South.
Those encounters reinforced
another important reality of contemporary policing: the protector's mission
assumes many forms.
The officer working a uniformed
assignment, the detective pursuing an investigation, the supervisor carrying
command responsibility, and the captain responsible for leadership and
operational direction may occupy very different positions within the organization.
Yet each contributes to the same larger public mission.
The uniform may differ from the
assignment. The responsibility does not.
Every member of the Department
carries a portion of the public trust.
That is why affirmation cannot be
reserved only for the most visible assignment, the largest gathering, or the
most celebrated achievement. The ethical culture of an organization is
strengthened when people understand that their contribution matters regardless
of where they stand within the structure.
RESPECT AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL
ETHIC
Respect is sometimes treated as a
matter of manners, but within a police organization it should be understood as
something deeper: an ethical posture toward the human person. It recognizes
that authority does not eliminate dignity and that organizational rank does not
determine human worth. It permits leaders to exercise command while remaining
attentive to the people entrusted to that command.
The American flag that remained
throughout the day's engagements reinforced that larger perspective.
The flag represented something
beyond the immediate assignment and beyond any individual officer. It provided
a visible reminder that public service is connected to principles larger than
the self—liberty, responsibility, sacrifice, constitutional government, and the
protection of human dignity.
For the men and women of the NYPD,
those ideals are not abstractions. They are encountered in the streets of New
York every day.
The officer who enters a difficult
situation, the detective who pursues the truth, the supervisor who guides
personnel through a demanding assignment, and the commander who bears
responsibility for an entire operation all participate in a profession whose
authority ultimately exists for the protection of others.
That authority carries weight.
So does the human being who
carries it.
MEANING, MORALE, AND THE INNER
LIFE OF THE PROTECTOR
Morale is sometimes discussed as
though it were an organizational condition measured by satisfaction,
productivity, or attendance. Yet morale also has an interior dimension: it is
connected to meaning.
A person who understands why his
or her service matters possesses an internal source of strength that cannot be
created by organizational slogans alone. Pride in the badge becomes sustainable
when an officer can connect the daily demands of the profession to a larger
purpose.
That purpose is protecting and
serving.
The officer may never know the
name of the person whose life was made safer that day. The public may never
know the decisions made quietly and correctly. Many acts of police service will
never generate headlines, commendations, or public recognition.
Yet they matter.
This is why affirmation is
important. It reminds the protector that the absence of public recognition does
not mean the absence of value.
The work matters because people
matter.
And the person performing that
work matters as well.
FIELD-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP:
ENTERING THE ENVIRONMENT WHERE PEOPLE SERVE
There is an important distinction
between talking about police officers and actually entering the environments in
which they serve.
The September 4 engagement was
field-driven leadership in its most practical form.
The afternoon and evening moved
from one roll call to another, from smaller gatherings to the unexpected large
Times Square assembly, from formal remarks to individual conversations, and
from the precinct's organizational spaces to direct encounters with members of
service.
That movement mattered.
Leadership becomes more credible
when it leaves the office and enters the environment where people actually
perform their responsibilities. It becomes more human when the leader is
willing to stand among those being addressed rather than remain behind a
podium.
The hours at Midtown South
reinforced a principle that has guided my work with the NYPD: leadership begins
with human encounter.
The numbers establish the scope.
The encounters establish the meaning.
LEADERSHIP AND HOSPITALITY: AN
EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE
Throughout the September 4
engagement, I was reminded that leadership is expressed not only through formal
authority, but also through hospitality, attentiveness, preparation, and the
willingness to create an environment in which meaningful human connection can
occur. I am deeply grateful to the many members of the NYPD who contributed to
that environment and who made the day's engagements possible.
I am particularly grateful to
Assistant Chief Melissa A. Eger, Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan
South, whose leadership encompasses the broader command environment within
which this engagement took place.
I also wish to acknowledge
Inspector Christopher Treubig, Commanding Officer of the Midtown South
Precinct, for the positive leadership reflected throughout the command. The
respect, professionalism, courtesy, and attentiveness demonstrated by the
personnel encountered during the engagement spoke positively to the leadership
and culture he has established within the precinct. The professionalism evident
throughout the command was both impressive and deeply appreciated.
Captain Benjamin M. Bellingeri,
Commanding Officer of the Times Square Unit, extended exceptional hospitality
and personally welcomed me to the unit. He introduced me to members of his
staff, explained the unit's responsibilities, command structure, mission, and
jurisdiction, and provided valuable context for understanding the distinctive
nature of policing in Times Square. His personal involvement reflected a
command culture in which professional responsibility and human courtesy exist
together.
Sgt. Tsering Dhundup deserves
special recognition for coordinating my visit and arranging the three Midtown
South roll-call opportunities that formed an important part of the engagement.
His preparation and coordination made it possible to move efficiently through
the afternoon and evening while preserving the opportunity for meaningful
interaction with the officers.
Sgt. Stephen Macomber demonstrated
exceptional attention to preparation and professional readiness during the
large Times Square Unit roll call. Before I addressed the officers, he
meticulously inspected each member of the detail, ensuring that the personnel
were properly prepared and presented for the engagement. His attention to
detail reflected the standards expected of those entrusted with supervisory
responsibility.
I am also grateful to Sgt. Joel
DeJesus for his gracious hospitality and leadership with the officers during
the engagement. His presence contributed to the welcoming atmosphere that
characterized the encounters throughout the command.
To each of these members of the
NYPD, and to the many officers, detectives, sergeants, lieutenants, captains,
and other personnel who welcomed me, extended a hand, engaged in conversation,
and permitted me to share this message, I offer my sincere appreciation. Their
professionalism and courtesy were not incidental to the experience. They were
themselves expressions of leadership.
The September 4 engagement
reinforced something I have witnessed repeatedly in my work with the NYPD: the
culture of an organization is revealed not only by its policies and structures,
but by how its people treat one another. Leadership is present in the formal
exercise of authority, but it is also present in a welcome, a conversation, a
gesture of respect, and the simple recognition that another person matters.
THE CULTURE WE CREATE: HUMAN
DIGNITY AS THE FOUNDATION OF TRUST
A culture of respect does not
emerge from a single speech. It develops through repeated acts of
leadership—through how people are greeted, how their contributions are
acknowledged, how their concerns are heard, how their service is valued, and
how leaders demonstrate through their own conduct that every member of the
organization possesses dignity.
That culture begins with a simple
recognition:
Every officer has dignity. Every
officer deserves respect. Every officer deserves affirmation.
Those principles applied equally
throughout the command. The smaller roll call mattered no less than the larger
one; the Detective Squad encounter mattered no less than the formal
presentations; the individual handshake and the conversation in the hallway
were no less significant because they occurred outside the room.
Each was an opportunity to
communicate that the person behind the badge had not been overlooked.
That is the essence of ethical
leadership. It is not merely the ability to direct an organization. It is the
willingness to recognize the humanity of the people within it and to create
conditions in which they can continue to serve with integrity, pride, courage,
and emotional fortitude.
THE AFFIRMATION THAT REMAINS
When the hours at Midtown South
and the Times Square Unit finally came to an end, what remained most important
was not the number of roll calls, the number of officers encountered, or the
movement from one assignment to another. It was the human connection.
More than one hundred members of
the NYPD were encountered throughout the afternoon and evening. Some stood in
large formations. Others gathered in smaller groups. Some were uniformed
officers preparing for their assignments. Others were detectives, supervisors,
or commanders carrying different responsibilities.
But every one of them represented
the same fundamental truth: the badge is worn by a person.
That person deserves dignity. That
person deserves respect. That person deserves affirmation.
The September 4 engagement at
Midtown South and the Times Square Unit reaffirmed that principle in a
particularly meaningful way. Two distinctive commands, different assignments,
different group sizes, and different operational responsibilities nevertheless
revealed the same essential reality: ethical leadership begins when leaders
recognize the human being behind the responsibility.
The work of policing demands
courage, discipline, judgment, resilience, and sacrifice. It also demands that
the people who carry those responsibilities be reminded that their service has
meaning and that they themselves have value.
That is why the human encounter
matters.
It is why a handshake matters.
It is why speaking to an officer
by name matters.
It is why standing among the
officers rather than behind a podium matters.
And it is why affirmation must
never be considered a secondary element of leadership.
The protector serves the public.
But the protector is also human.
That recognition is not a
departure from professional policing. It is part of sustaining the person who
performs it.
The September 4 engagement was
ultimately a reminder that ethical leadership is not measured only by what
leaders ask of those they lead. It is also measured by whether they recognize,
respect, and affirm the people who carry the badge.
The badge represents
responsibility. The person who wears it represents humanity. Ethical leadership
must honor both.
Under the leadership of Assistant
Chief Melissa A. Eger, Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Manhattan South,
and Deputy Inspector Alexander Brathwaite, Commanding Officer of the NYPD 13th
Precinct, the 13th Precinct serves a significant portion of southern Midtown
Manhattan, encompassing neighborhoods and landmarks including Peter Cooper
Village/Stuyvesant Town, Gramercy Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square
Park. The command is headquartered at 230 East 21st Street.
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