THUMBS UP! Page keywords = police department precinct cop officer patrol bull fuzz detective dick inspector sheriff deputy auxiliary beat law enforcement fire emergency military armed force gratitude appreciation brutality racial profiling good job Old Brookville Nassau Suffolk County Second Third Fourth Sixth Precinct Glen Cove Center Long Island Laurel Hollow Mill Neck Oyster Bay Cove Old Westbury State Park Bayville Fire EMS NYPD FBI DEA Bay Constable Game Warden Rail Road street highway shoulder patches NEWSDAY THUMBS UP!

S. Berliner, III's

THUMBS UP! Page

Updated: 30 Aug 2005, 13:20 ET
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We still think of all who worked and died at the
World Trade Center and Pentagon
in Manhattan and Arlington, and at Shanksville.
Our hearts go out to all who lost (or can't find) a friend or loved one.
No more need be said (but please see below^*).

We were asked to wear RED, WHITE, and BLUE; I dug out my 1942 lapel pin:

Red, White, & Blue

Let me sadly add the valiant seven of the Columbia to this tribute (01 Feb 2003).

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S. Berliner, III's

THUMBS UP! Page

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
"changing materials with high-intensity sound"
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher
This site has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance" (after John Philpot Curran* - 1790)
NOT eternal vigilantism! (SB,III - 1999)

{* - and NOT Thomas Jefferson, to whom it is widely attributed!}

PAGE INDEX:

THE THUMBS UP! PROGRAM - follows.

DARKENED WINDOWS.

Notes of APPRECIATION.

NASSAU COUNTY (L.I., N.Y.) P.D. PRECINCTS.

NASSAU COUNTY POLICE CAR NUMBERING.

Names applied (more-or-less politely) to Police Officers.

and miscellaneous law enforcement items.

AMERICAN ENGLISH FIRST FLAG.

THE THUMBS UP! PROGRAM

Thank Your Local Police Force or Law Enforcement Agency

and your local fire and EMS personnel, too!

(not to mention Marshals, Inspectors,
the military/armed forces, etc.)

I'm sick and tired of a few rogue cops blackening the name of those honest, decent officers who protect and assist me! I remember well the bumper sticker of the '60s;

IF YOU NEED HELP, TRY CALLING A HIPPIE!

Not that I was down on hippies, but the sentiment still applies. When you need them, the police and other law enforcement, fire, and EMS men and women are there to lend a hand. They have the training and equipment needed and they use both to do the job.

So, let's let them know they are appreciated!

Through the windshield or through an open window, give them a THUMBS UP!

Just make darn sure it's your thumb that's up!

It wouldn't hurt to be obeying the speed limit while you're at it, either!

A big smile wouldn't hurt, either!

DARKENED WINDOWS

Speaking of signaling through the window, let's get fully-tinted windows outlawed;

I can't bear the thought of an officer approaching a vehicle and being unable to see inside.

A note of appreciation:

* - Let me interrupt the intended flow of this page, impersonal as it is, to take note of a specific, real person, a neighbor, taken in the World Trade Center disaster on 11 Sep 2001; up to his confirmed loss, I'd been more or less "outside", looking in and on. I saw posters of the missing even out here on Long Island but, suddenly, it became too close; the widow of one of those heros was my dentist's assistant! Excerpting from the NEWSDAY obituary
(I trust they won't object):

JOHN {M.} PAOLILLO, of Glen Head, N.Y., on September 11, 2001. Battalion Chief of Special Operations Command Battalion FDNY; teacher for International Association of Fire Fighters and Task Force Leader for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Beloved husband of Donna. Devoted father of Jake and Ella. Loving son of Martin and Elizabeth Paolillo. Dear brother of Joe and Sheila. A Memorial Service was held on 03 Oct at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Glen Head {L.I.}, N.Y. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the John Paolillo Memorial Fund, c/o North Shore School District, 112 Franklin Avenue, Sea Cliff, N.Y. 11579.

Rest in peace, John; you and your fellow bravest won't be soon forgotten. I picked John, a neighbor, as an examplar; there were far too many others like him. Too close, indeed!

I took the liberty of going in to Ground Zero (or as close as a "civilian" could get, even then) on 20 Dec 01; I figured 100 days was enough and I wanted to pay my respects up close; there is only one word and that is "some". It was something else! The cause was troublesome, the result fearsome, the carnage tearsome, the emptiness awesome, and the feeling lonesome (I do NOT recommend your going down there alone, as I did). There were crowds of tourists, but all reverent and hushed.

[NEWSDAY devoted almost a half page (A21) to John M. Paolillo in its Monday, 04 Feb 2002 issue.]

11 Sep 2002 - I got kind messages from all over the world, whil(e)(st) they were out celebrating wildly in the streets of Baghdad. I can still remember quite vividly how wildly we celebrated incinerating Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

11 Sep 2003 - the Glen Head locals or the Town of Oyster Bay honored John by "renaming" Roslyn Drive, where he had lived, "John Paolillo Way":

Thanks and THUMBS UP! to:

the Nassau County Police Department's Sixth Precinct in Manhasset
and especially their Booths E (Sea Cliff, my primary protection) and G (Roslyn),

the Old Brookville Police Department, which was my primary protection for several years,

the rest of the Nassau County Police Department, especially
the Second and Third Precincts, which often serve me now, especially the guys and gals at Second Precinct's Booths A (Bayville), B (Lattingtown), C (Oyster Bay village), D (Locust Valley^@), and, now, H (Laurel Hollow)

[wonder which others I've missed?], and
the Fourth Precinct, which served me when I used to live down their way,

the Glen Cove Police Department which used to serve me for many years and again serves me (and well!),

{old 26 Apr 02 images lost - I took new ones 06 Feb 03}
Old Glen Cove Police Station

[Former Glen Cove Police Station (left) - marked "Justices Court" / "1907";
intended to become the North Shore Historical Museum
and the new Glen Cove Police Station (right) - the former City Hall
(06 Feb 03 photos by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III -all rights reserved)

{the grass is growing rather well on the entry overhang!}

Here's a detail of that plaque:

Glen Cove Justices Court
(06 Feb 03 photo by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III -all rights reserved)

and the Centre Island, Oyster Bay Cove**, Cove Neck, and Old Westbury Police Departments, which help me passing through.

I never seemd to get around to photos of the Nassau County station houses; that's now remedied. These are "my own"; 2nd at Crossways and Jericho in Woodbury, 3rdł on Hillside Avenue in Williston Park, and 6th on Community Drive (how apt) in Manhasset:

ł - Taking the photo of the 3rd involved quite a brannigan; I raised my camera in the parking lot and instantly was asked what I was doing by a gentlemen not in uniform, to which I bristled, and things went downhill from there. Once we calmed down and sorted it all out, all was well, but it got a wee bit dicey there; he was an officer, of course (a supervisor - gold badge), and well within his rights, given the terror threat, but we both could have been a lot more easy on each other. It's kinda funny, in retrospect, and, although I feel I did nothing wrong, I did apologize for my part in getting him so riled.

Here's the NCPD Second Precinct's Oyster Bay Booth C (looking west across South Street):

I also had photos of a bunch of other booths and stations in my locality; wonder where those photos went? Perhaps they were on film, not digital. On 06 Feb 2003, I wandered around my area to get the rest (naturally, the sun vanished after I left); here they are (most of them, anyway), starting with NCPD Second Precinct's Booth A in Bayville and Booth B in Lattingtown:

Next, we 'll go to 6th Precinct's Booth E in Sea Cliff and Booth G^@ in Roslyn:

The old Nike missile base in East Hills has been taken over by the municipality and one of the buildings by the main gate on Harbor Hill Road is now the 6th Precinct's Booth J:

(30 Aug 03)

NCPD 6Pct Booth J East hills sign
(30 Aug 03 photos by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III -all rights reserved)

Lastly (for the NCPD), here is the old Laurel Hollow station, quite literally in a hollow, now 2nd Precinct's Booth H:

Now for Old Brookville, itself, and the old Cove Neck station, now labelled as part of the Old Brookville force:

Here's Centre Island and Oyster Bay Cove stations (still independent):

Hey, dispatchers relax; I'm not nuts. I know the area; I didn't drive around in the order I'm showing the pictures! Oyster Bay Cove's photo almost caused a problem; I'd turned south off eastbound Route 25A onto southbound Berry Hill Road and pulled off the roadway entirely to take the picture through my driver's window, but a big school bus turned south from westbound 25A and couldn't make the swing until I pulled away and I was so intent on the photo I didn't notice it until a horn blasted me out of my skin!

I have a lot of yarns to spin about Bill ("Willie-the-Whip") Whittendale, third man on the old Mill Neck force; here's one of his own shoulder patches:

The first of my two articles about Bill appeared in the Spring 2002 issue (pp. 6-7) of the Oyster Bay Historical Society's superb publication, the FREEHOLDER, "The History Magazine of the Town of Oyster Bay"; the second installment, Part II, appeared in the Summer 2002 issue (pp. 6-7 and 18-19).

[For other patches, see Bosco link below.]

Ditto the New York State Police (especially Troop L in Farmingdale), the New York State Park Police (out of Bethpage), and the Glenwood and Glen Cove Fire Departments and EMS units.

While I'm at it, I mustn't forget the Suffolk County mounties who protect my grandchildren and their folks and the CH(i)Ps who are there for my other daughter out on the Coast.

Kudos also to my neighbors, NYPD Blue and to "Big Daddy", the FBI, and to the DEA and the Bay Constables and the Game Wardens, and so on and on through so many people who put their lives on the line to maintain law and order.

And let's not forget the "bulls", the Long Island Rail Road Police; I don't ride that often and I trust I'm not an obnoxious railfan, but they are always polite and helpful!

The savage killing of NYC City Marshal Erskine Bryce on 21 Aug 01 prompted me to add Marshals and Fire Marshals and Inspectors and Case Workers and all those other civil servants, in and out of uniform, peace officers or no, and men of the cloth and so many more who put themselves in harm's way to do the work of and for the public.

Another fine, independent force bit the dust: the Laurel Hollow department went out on 31 May 98; it protected me in transit across Moore's Hill all these years and became a part of the Nassau force on 01 Jun 98; thanks, guys!

** - The Oyster Bay Cove Department also went Nassau (ca. Dec 00).

Hey, I inadvertently left out the Port Washington Police Department, which has been there for me for some 40 years of active involvement in the area, especially on Sunday mornings and weekday evenings on my way to and from church (until it moved to East Hills a few years ago).

NEWSDAY has a useful listing of all Nassau and Suffolk forces at their Police Departments page.

Those of you out there interested in present and vanished Nassau County forces should look at retired Garden City Police Detective James V. Bosco's fabulous Police Departments of Nassau County, Long Island, NY site; there are 30 police department shoulder patches shown (and 15 departments listed for which he shows no patches), with territories and histories!

{Oops! 13 May 2002 - the link doesn't work on either my or Jim's sites -
use this higher level link for his "Policeworks" Suffolk and NYPD patches;

I've asked Jim about Nassau.}

Jim Fordyce also has a neat site, Nassau County Police Information.

Meryl and Dick Olpe have a great page on law enforcement at CopCorner.

SOME RELATED N.Y. SUPPORTIVE ORGANIZATIONS:

(these listings are for information only and do not necessarily constitute any recommendation or endorsement)

NEW YORK STATE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE Empire State Lodge, Inc.

NEW YORK POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION - more links, including:
GARDEN CITY PBA,
LONG ISLAND ASSOCIATION OF CRIME PREVENTION OFFICERS,
LONG ISLAND SHIELDS,
NASSAU COUNTY MUNICIPAL POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION,
STATE OF NEW YORK POLICE JUVENILE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION.

GARDEN CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT.

and the
NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE,
which my father supported all his adult life.

There are also the national Fraternal Order of Police and the New York City New York Shields,
for neither of which have I found true home page URLS.

Can anyone give me a direct URL for the F.O.P.? The Shields don't have one.

Nassau County residents may find these of interest -

NASSAU COUNTY P.D. PRECINCTS:

First Precinct - Baldwin

Second Precinct - Woodbury

Third Precinct - Williston Park

Fourth Precinct - Hewlett

Fifth Precinct - Elmont

Sixth Precinct - Manhasset

Seventh Precinct - Seaford

Eighth Precinct - Levittown

Nassau County has a complete listing of all its 8 precincts, their commander, phones, etc.

NASSAU COUNTY POLICE CAR NUMBERING
(probably not current):

(I forgot to whom I am indebted for the car numbering)

250 - Cove Neck P.D.

255-56 - Centre Island P.D.

260-61 - Laurel Hollow P.D.

262-64 - Mill Neck P.D.

266-67 - Oyster Bay Cove P.D.

270-79 - Glen Cove P.D. cars

282-83 - Glen Cove P.D. detectives

291-99 - Old Brookville P.D.

@ - Didja know? - The Nassau County Police Department's Second Precinct Booth D at the Locust Valley station, in an old two-story frame structure for the past few years, is actually the Long Island Rail Road's old Locust (Interlocking) Tower.

Here she is on 16 Feb 99, looking southeast and east and northwest:

It's featured on my LIRR continuation page 6; larger and newer images

(with details and and dimensions for modeling) are also there.

Names applied (more-or-less politely) to Police Officers:
[We will dispense with the "not-so-polite" appellations here; this is a family-rated site, you know!]

Well, it all started with Sir Robert Peel, who founded the first metropolitan police force back in 1829 in London. From "Robert" we get the British "Bobbie" and from "Peel" we get "Peeler"!

Now, Sir Robert, in order to distinguish his men (sorry, ladies, no women back then), gave them each a badge of office, made out of shiny (no fair; you guessed!) "COPPER", so now we have the classical British "Copper" and it's Yankee diminutive, "Cop"^***!

*** - I've been taken to task, or at least quizzed, by a number of officers or retirees who all "know" that "COP" is an acronym for "Constable On Patrol" - well and good, but Merriam-Webster seems to agree with my take, dating "cop" from 1859 as short for "copper", in turn from 1846, both meaning "Police Officer".

I assume (probably incorrectly and certanly not politically correctly) that the archetypal overweight (read beer-guzzling) New York Irish cop pounding (literally) his beat gave rise to the term "Flatfoot"; happily, that archetype is gone (or all but so).

So, from whence cometh the terms "Fuzz" and "Gumshoe" ?

Bet the latter, "Gumshoe", is British, from the "gum" (rubber) soles on their shoes so they could move silently.

Military Police

MP (Military Police) - I'm sorry, gals and guys, for neglecting you! Although 4F, I used to live on base at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, when I worked there as an Ordnance Proof Director during the Korean fiasco (of course, there weren't any gals, then!) and my adventures there may amuse you; see my Ordnance pages. Since then, I have had many occasions to visit posts here and in Canada and have always been treated with the utmost of courtesy and helpfulness!

Speaking of Canada, let's hear it for the RCMP (and the Provincials), eh?

And, speaking of Mounties, I have always loved the appelation "County Mounty"; it rolls off the tongue so neatly.

Here's a public-spirited police site you might enjoy, East Bay (San Francisco) area Deputy Sheriff Jim Lambert's NetCops PSI site (which also covers his book, CopTalk). (30 Aug 05)

You don't even have to be an officer or fire fighter or medic to be a hero; when I first visited Ground Zero, I saw for myself the truly-heroic labors of the utility people, especially the absolutely-fantastic work Verizon installers and cablers did rerouting tens of thousands of cable pairs in trenches and in surface conduit and as of 21 Nov 02 Verizon wanted to thank them for their herculaean efforts by laying them off while fat-cat execs get millions!

AMERICAN ENGLISH FIRST FLAG

Now, at the bottom of each of my Web pages, I have a little bit devoted to law enforcement and emergency personnel with which I display two current American flags, thusly:

These are the flag of a multilingual nation, torn apart by ethnic differences exascerbated by language, as is Canada; I could, instead, fly the Continental (or Grand Union) Flag of 1775, a flag of English-speaking people:

The current American flag came from the 18th Century British Union Jack and Royal Ensign and the Continental/Grand Union Flag through the so-called Betsy Ross 13-star flag, adding stars now and then for more states; we could always fly the 13-star or 48-star flags:

That would be grossly unfair to other states. I had written "Watch here for an even better {?} suggestion to come". How about a new American flag for the 21st Century?

Here's my "English First" variation on the Continental/Grand Union flag that adds the cross of St. Patrick of the current British Union Jack to celebrate the Irish that joined with the English and Scots in founding the United States:

I never realized before but there is good precedent for using the modern (20th Century) Union Jack in the field, witness the flag of the State of Hawaii:

If you enjoy this flag business, you must visit my Old Glory segment on my History page and two fabulous flag sites I ran across:

Rob Raeside's Flags of the World,
which illustrates almost every flag you can imagine, and

Ed Mooney, Jr.'s Flag Detective,
which helps you find flags by visual categories.

Should a police officer pursuing a cold-blooded killer in a face-mask have to call out,

"Stop, halt, arrętez-vous, halto!"?

For the full words and story of "Taps" ("Day is Done"), click here.

See my LANGUAGE page for a reasoned(?) discussion of English First

and my History page for more on the history of "Old Glory".

THUMBS UP!

S. Berliner, III

To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.

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S. Berliner, III's

THUMBS UP! Page

S. Berliner, III's

THUMBS UP! Page

PAGE INDEX:

THE THUMBS UP! PROGRAM

Thank Your Local Police Force or Law Enforcement Agency

and your local fire and EMS personnel, too!

(not to mention Marshals, Inspectors, the military/armed forces, etc.)

IF YOU NEED HELP, TRY CALLING A HIPPIE!

DARKENED WINDOWS

A note of appreciation:

SOME RELATED N.Y. SUPPORTIVE ORGANIZATIONS:

NASSAU COUNTY P.D. PRECINCTS:

NASSAU COUNTY POLICE CAR NUMBERING (probably not current):

Military Police

AMERICAN ENGLISH FIRST FLAG

"Stop, halt, arrętez-vous, halto!"?

THUMBS UP!

(not to mention Marshals, Inspectors,
the military/armed forces, etc.)

NASSAU COUNTY POLICE CAR NUMBERING
(probably not current):