Cop grad’s a sign of times
Hopes to aid deaf, like his parents
younger siblings to speak English and use sign language.
At St. Raymond High School for Boys, a parochial school in the Bronx, Familia applied for a scholarship because his parents couldn’t afford tuition. There, he met Alden Isiah Foster, the NYPD’s director of Youth Services and Community Engagement, who was in charge of the scholarship program.
Foster took Familia under his wing, and introduced him to different officers, detective squads, the Emergency Service Unit, and helped pave the road for Familia to apply to the Police Academy.
“It seems very unreal now that I’m on the police force… I have the opportunity to give back and help others,” Familia said. “There are so many youths out there going through the same obstacles and struggles. All they need is a little guidance. I could have gone in any direction, but meeting the right people and having a mentor to guide me to the right path made a big impact on my life. And I could possibly pay that forward and be a mentor in someone else’s life.”
Familia said he wants to be a bridge between those who can hear and those who can’t.
“I look forward to some relationship with the NYPD and the deaf community,” Familia explained. “I feel like the deaf community is very private and they don’t like to reach out. The NYPD held a community meeting once and they had this interpreter. My parents attended and, my, when they got home they were actually happy. It’s not an everyday thing that the deaf community gets to have these interactions with the NYPD. I think that they will be more appreciative if that was more of an everyday thing.”
At Friday’s ceremony, Familia’s parents, mom Noris Suriel and dad Miguel Angel Familia, will get to watch him sign his way through the national anthem on stage. He said they couldn’t be happier with his career choice.
“I went to see my dad yesterday, and he was wearing an NYPD shirt and an NYPD hat, and I’m just like, ‘Dad, what’s going on?’ ” Familia recalled. “It’s just funny. I can tell he’s very happy for me. My dad is going to every cousin of mine telling them I’m going to become a police officer, and he’s just very proud of me.”