At today’s NYPD Police Academy graduation, an Orthodox Jew from Monsey mounted the podium and spoke as the class valedictorian for approximately seven minutes.
Two of the eight honors given out at the graduation ceremony, which was hosted in Madison Square Garden, were won by 25-year-old Samuel Winsbacher.
Winsbacher was recognized with the academy’s top accolade, the Mayor’s accolade, in addition to earning the First Deputy Commissioner’s Award by outperforming his peers with an academic average of 99.3 percent, the highest in the class of more than 500 pupils, with an overall average of 99.59 percent.
Winsbacher smiled as he detailed performing 80 pushups in a 90-degree environment during the six-month journey he and his classmates took to get to the academy.
Winsbacher added, “It is critical that we remain loyal to ourselves and, above all, continue to display the integrity and professionalism that are the essence of this excellent department.
We must keep in mind that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of protecting and serving; it is not the end. Winsbacher had long considered becoming a police officer, and in August 2022, he took the NYPD exam. He passed with a score of 52 out of 55 on the multiple-choice test. Winsbacher had his sights set on the NYPD rather than the local police department, despite living in Rockland County.
Winsbacher told VIN News, “I wanted to be able to go after criminals and not just pull over law-abiding citizens who roll through stop signs.” On July 26, Winsbacher, the only student in his class to don a yarmulka during their months of training, begins serving in his new command.
Working with Transit Police District 11 in the vicinity of Yankee Stadium is what he will be doing.
Winsbacher and the entire graduating class received good wishes from Inspector Richie Taylor, the highest-ranking Orthodox NYPD officer, who also noted that becoming a part of “New York’s finest” offers great opportunity for advancement.
Taylor was a member of the group that visited the Hall of Heroes and joint operations center of the NYPD with Israeli President Isaac Herzog just last week.
The delegation also met in the executive conference room of the police commissioner’s office to talk about crime patterns and issues there as well as how they relate to Israel.
The influence you may have and the chances you have with the police department are simply unparalleled, according to Taylor.
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