NYPD’s Miss Congeniality: Officer Reflects On First Year On the Job
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NYPD officer Amy Diaz, 29, was only a few weeks out of the police academy when she responded to a call of a potential break-in. When she arrived at the scene, rushing in expectation of impending danger, she found no sign of any imminent threat. What she found instead was just as concerning: a single mother struggling with extreme paranoia. Moreover, she had no food in the apartment and a toddler with a diaper that had been worn all day. Diaz’s first instinct? To change the baby’s diaper. “That came from a mom’s point of view. I didn’t need to do those things. I did it because I wanted to.”
Last month marked a year since Diaz became an NYPD patrol officer in the midst of a nationwide officer shortage that is still ongoing. Parallel to this, the gradual increase in crime rate in the city and around the country since then has also caused concerned. Nonetheless, it hasn’t deterred Diaz from doing what she knows she signed up for. “Our goal is to protect life. While everyone is running away from the danger, police officers are running to the danger.”
Diaz has always dedicated herself to work that helps others, primarily as a medical assistant for four years. But after living paycheck to paycheck for each of those years, she began to realize she wasn’t making enough money to secure any kind of generational assets to leave behind for her two kids. “After work I came home and sat down and I started to think, ‘I’m gonna hit 30 soon. What am I gonna do when I’m 50 years old?'” She explained how she felt out of reach of financial stability and existential equanimity. “I started to feel stuck." Being inspired by her two military veteran brothers, she decided to follow in their footsteps and protect civilian life on a city-scale — which the stats show can be just as life-threatening.
A review of crime rate statistics provided by the NYPD reports that rape, robberies and felony assaults are set to surpass 2021’s numbers from this time last year. Diaz says having front-row seats to the city’s turmoil was a reckoning she wasn’t prepared for. “You actually get to see the real world when you are a police officer. You’re not just going off of social media or the news or what happens on your block. Your eyes are open to what the real world is.” She explained how the thought of being physically harmed on the job is not as scary to her as the harsh realities she encounters daily in the city, such as poverty, domestic disputes, struggles with mental illness and combinations and effects of all three. “You go to these jobs and you start to feel. You don’t just shut yourself out. If you have a family you think this could’ve been my daughter, or my son, or mom.”
Diaz does what she can to make a difference with every menial task. For example, one day while at the station, Diaz stood guard of a cell where a homeless transgender woman was being detained for a petty theft crime. The woman began to yell and beg for food and curse at Diaz. After asking the detainee to settle down, Diaz walked over to a bodega and got her some snacks, despite it not being the social norm at the precinct. “They told me that once she was released, she asked for me when she was leaving. It’s ‘cause she was grateful, you know?” In the year since that incident, Diaz says she sees the woman weekly and buys her something to eat without question.
Diaz was born and raised in New York City by Dominican parents — a first generation immigrant mother and a father also born and raised in the city. Being the eldest of three, she was always encouraged to be somewhat of a guardian watchdog for her younger brothers. A few years after having her first child at 15, she dropped out of high school. She eventually graduated from Mandl School, The College of Allied Health and found work in the medical field. After discussing her desires to branch out professionally with her partner, a lieutenant who’s been on the police force for almost two decades, he made her realize she has what it takes to become a great detective one day. Joining the NYPD would be the gateway. “The skills that I think I have and realize I’ve been complimented on even before I got on the job: I pay attention to details. I pay attention to body movement. I pay attention to things that give people away.”
Right now though, the harsh hazards of the city and hostility between cop and civilian dynamics are top of mind for Diaz. She recounts a story where she responded to a call to assist a woman who was covered in feces and was incoherent. When gently attempting to lead her to the ambulance, the woman began to resist and began flailing her arms. In order to safely subdue her, and prevent any injury to herself or those around her, Diaz and her patrol partner handcuffed her to easily escort to the EMS workers. However, at the sight of handcuffs, spectators began to protest, “Leave the woman alone! She didn’t do nothing!” Diaz says, “People think we’re out to hurt people, but we’re just trying to provide assistance…I can’t speak for anybody, but I don’t think anybody’s goal is to be like ‘I wanna kill somebody today.’”
Diaz has another three years before she’s eligible to become a detective. In the meantime, she aims to make a change one call at a time. She says she understands that hostility towards cops is a reaction to the hostile reputation cops have acquired in light of what’s reported in the media. Because of this, she gives this advice to anyone who’s thinking about becoming a cop: "Just remember what the purpose of being a police officer is — it’s to protect life and protect society. When you’re out there, don’t lose sight of what you’re out there to do.”
