The following is a portion of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton's eulogy for slain NYPD Officer Randolph Holder in which he reads aloud a letter Holder wrote when he was graduating from the police academy. Watch the video of Bratton reading the letter above (around 12:30):
Every new recruit must answer the same question as they come into our academy: "Why did you become a police officer?" They type out their responses and submit them to their academy instructors -- every recruit, including Randy Holder.
This is what Randy Holder told us in his letter, July 10, 2010:
My name is Randolph Holder, born March 19, 1982 in Georgetown, Guyana. Growing up, all I wanted to do was make a difference in my community and become a role model. In November of 2002, I migrated to the United States of America to live with father.
When I read this letter and I saw that term, "to live with father," I was struck with "father." Not "my father," not "my dad," not "my pop," but "father." The respect, sir, he must have had for you. The term "father" denotes that. I was just extraordinarily touched by that term in this letter. The respect he must have had for you.
My first real job was working as a security officer. Most of the managers were retired NYPD officers and they always talked a lot about how they changed their communities. That's when I decided I could be a role model and make a difference in my community and in New York.
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In December 2010, I will graduate from the NYPD Academy to become a police officer in the greatest police department in the world.
For your information,
Randolph Holder
Probationary Police Officer
Randy, you were indeed a role model. You made a difference. You touched the lives of your family, your colleagues -- the thousands upon thousands whom are here today, your community, your city and now, your country.
From your loss, we can take this. We can change the fact that the city came to know you too late, as even though service is not compelled in this country, public safety is a shared responsibility.
We all have to come together to help the good people and get the evil people off the streets, to steer the kids on the precipice to the right side and not the wrong side. All of us share the responsibility to keep people safe. It can't just be what cops do. It has to be what all of us do.
And that will be a fitting legacy for Det. First Grade Randy Holder, shield number 9657, who served us all. If we want to remember him and to honor him, coming together to finish his work is the way. It's what we all can do. It 's what we all community and police need to do. It's our shared responsibility.
So Det. Randolph Holder, you are relieved of your duty as a New York City police officer guarding at the gates of New York City, and we send you on your way to be a guardian angel at the gates of heaven.
