The Greatest Show on Earth….

Ronald Wert

Ronald Wert
Police Officer (Ret.), NYPD


P O Wert on patrol in MTS 1983

PO Wert on patrol in MTS 1983 I knew I wanted to become a police officer from the time I was in elementary school. After graduating from high school in 1977, the NYPD was still not hiring due to the financial crisis of the 1970s so I went to college and joined the NYPD Auxillary Police (volunteer) where I served part time in the 47 and 19 Precincts for over 4 years. When the chance came to take the police test in 1979, I jumped at the chance, and after over 2 years of applicant investigations, testing, and waiting, I was privileged to swear into the January 1982 police academy class – over 3000 strong and the largest in NYPD history. I was never more proud to graduate in June 1982. We were told our graduating class, in itself, would have constituted the 6th largest police department in the nation! I worked in PBSI/122 and then Midtown South (MTS). I enjoyed every single day and the fact that as a police officer you are truly living real life and no two days are ever the same. They say becoming a police officer is a front row seat to the greatest show on earth. It truly is. You see and feel and live things that very few people get to experience. It really is a 24 hour a day 7 day a week life. And the greatest reward is getting to help people in a way that few others in our society can. There is no greater calling than to bring comfort and protection and reassurance to those who need it — from the lost child, to the injured elderly, to the sick child, to the scared tourist, to the victim of a crime. I am most thankful to have been part of the thin blue line.

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