Letter: Detective’s act has good effect

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Lately our police department has been painted with a very wide brush as at times inept and less than honorable.

In this wholesale judgment we may have missed some extraordinary people. On Wednesday, April 19, Detective Vince Ramirez found a rather valuable belonging of mine. I could not contemplate I would ever reclaim it.

Unable to reach me by phone, he researched my son's location and personally returned my property intact. He would not even consider a reward, though we were extremely insistent.

Having spoken to Vince, I know he wouldn't want recognition for this far-reaching kindness. The ripples his integrity started are far-reaching, already having greatly impressed me, my friends, my son and gratefully my son's children, who are old enough to recognize character at its best and to be influenced by it.

A cynic might judge this a simple act of charity and diligence. I prefer to think of it as an unusually fine act of kindness and devotion to protect and serve, one with long-lasting beneficial results.

JOHN MANGANI

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