Honor for Y’town’s finest serves as lesson for all of us

Honor for Y’town’s finest serves as lesson for all of us

Too often, police and law enforcement officers in Youngstown, the Mahoning Valley and throughout the nation get a bum rap.

They’re not doing enough to prevent crime, some argue. They’re wasting too much time chasing down two-bit victimless crimes, others lament. They’re arrogant, hostile, lazy doughnut chompers, still others whine.

Such baseless stereotyping and name-calling ignore the reality that each day, millions of law enforcement officers risk their lives to serve and protect communities and their residents. Most of the time, their heroic deeds — however large or small — go unnoticed or are drowned out in a sea of misguided moaning and finger-pointing.

That’s why we’re particularly pleased to join the National Association of Police Organizations in singling out Youngstown Patrolman Richard Baldwin, a city police officer since 1986, for national honors. On Monday, Baldwin will be the only law enforcement officer from Ohio to receive a prestigious Top Cop award from NAPO, a coalition of more than 2,000 police units and associations representing 238,000 rank-and-file law enforcement officers in the United States.

The Top Cop award recognizes Baldwin’s heroism and self-sacrifice. It reflects proudly on the stature of the Youngstown Police Department. And it serves as a lesson to the rest of us on the life-and-death difference a skilled and quick-witted police officer like Baldwin can make in our lives and on our communities.

Basis of Baldwin’s award

Baldwin was nominated by his supervisor, Detective Sgt. Zaida Miranda for his actions responding to a March 2007 suicide-hostage call on the city’s West Side. The officer walked into a tense and potentially lethal family drama.

Baldwin said a distraught man held a 9 mm gun to his head, threatening to shoot himself. The man’s wife was nearby in the kitchen, crying, and their small child was in an adjacent room.

“I talked him out of it, persuaded him to put the gun down,” Baldwin said. “I said ‘Why do you want to do this in front of your wife?’”

Miranda said Baldwin arrived on the scene by himself and risked his own safety by going into the house alone to defuse the crisis. Miranda called Baldwin’s actions “dangerous and courageous.”

Baldwin’s nominator speculated that because of the man’s depression, he could have shot his family and the officer and then turned the gun on himself. “Rick used his verbal skills to gain the man’s confidence and was able to defuse the situation. He deserves the award.”

Clearly, Miranda is correct. Baldwin richly merits the Top Cop honor. The police force and our community will share his pride when a video montage of Baldwin is presented Monday in Washington.

As we honor Baldwin and other police officers Monday to kick off National Police Week, the Youngstown patrolman’s heroism should remind all of us that the overriding good police officers provide far outweighs any grains of truth found in our culture’s common and collective stereotypes.

Let the start of National Police Week also start an attitude adjustment for those Americans who insist on clinging to worn-out stereotypes. Let Baldwin’s astute, quick-thinking and potentially life-saving actions serve as a microcosm of the underrecognized community service, sacrifice and heroism millions of our men and women in blue perform selflessly day in and day out.