Police Officer Oliver Lopez should not only be honored for all the work he does cleaning up the streets, but for being a role model for children.
Therefore it was pretty fitting that his sons Aaron and Joshua were on hand when Lopez received an award appropriate to the reputation of respect he’s built over the last fourteen years on the beat — a special Patrol Borough Brooklyn South citation from Chief Joseph Fox.
Lopez, his sons and wife Julissa were all in attendance at Patrol Borough Brooklyn South headquarters on Snyder Avenue last week when Chief Fox handed the award to Lopez, showing that his years of professionalism and strong work ethic didn’t go unnoticed.
Captain Kenneth Corey, commanding officer of the 76th Precinct — and Lopez’s boss — gushed about the crime fighter’s qualifications.
“He’s certainly one of the best cops in the precinct,” Corey said. “He has an innate knowledge of the criminals in the command and the different methods we can use to arrest them.”
Since joining the force in 1997 Lopez has been responsible for a “tremendous number of good collars” (258 during the course of his career, 26 in 2009 alone) but takes everything in stride.
An arrest of a mugger in January and the September pinching of a notorious career burglar who used the neighborhood as his happy hunting ground for months before his apprehension is all the same to Oliver. Through the years, most of which have been on the streets of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, he’s never received a civilian complaint, his captain noted.
“He treats everybody with dignity and respect — even the criminals,” Corey said.
A true role model indeed.
