Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An NYPD cop who refused to let his 9/11 cancer diagnosis deter him from his duties was promoted to detective in a surprise ceremony Wednesday.
Crime Control Strategy Police Officer Ross Dichter, who appeared at the Police Foundation’s State of the NYPD breakfast via live video feed, was confused at first when Commissioner Dermot Shea showed him his new shield.
“What does the numbers 7-0-4-6 mean to you?” Shea asked the 20-year veteran.
“I couldn’t think fast enough,” Dichter told the Daily News from his Long Island home. “I know all of my crime numbers, so I was shocked. I had no idea what he was talking about and a little nervous.”
Shea then revealed that 7046 was Dichter’s new detective shield number, with each of the numbers representing last digit of his wife and three kids’ birthdays.
“It was shocking,” Dichter said. “I was overwhelmed and very excited.”
Dichter joined the department in 1999. He spent most of his career at the 20th Precinct on the Upper West Side, where he found his calling as the stationhouse’s crime statistics guru with an affinity for reviewing reports and identifying crime trends in the command.
Last March, he was diagnosed with tongue cancer caused by toxins inhaled at Ground Zero, where he spent several months as a rookie cop.
Despite his illness, Dichter never took a sick day. He chose to use his vacation time when he needed surgery to remove a section of his tongue and 25 lymph nodes.
“I used my own personal time and did not go out sick because I wanted to go 20 years without a sick day,” he said. “I come to work all the time. It’s who I am.”
But the cancer proved a bit more resilient than his work ethic. In August, Dichter learned that the disease had spread to his neck and jugular vein, and he would need more surgery.
Instead of hanging up his hat, Dichter started working from home.
Shea said he was inspired to promote Dichter about a month ago when he saw a photo of the cop working while undergoing chemotherapy.
“I was speechless. I really was,” Shea said. “Amazingly, he insists on keeping busy, by continuing to crunch numbers as part of his crime analysis duties. So currently on any given day at home and even during his weekly treatments in Sloan Kettering, you’ll find Officer Dichter remotely log onto this NYPD laptop.
“If that doesn’t tell the people of New York City how lucky they are to have men and women in blue like Officer Dichter, I don’t know what will,” Shea said.
Dichter’s wife, Karen, and three kids, Michael, 15, Emma, 13, and Benjamin, 9, were all home to see the hero cop accept his promotion.
“Thank you so much commissioner,” Dichter gushed on the live video feed. “It means so much to me. I really appreciate it.”
“I was just as shocked as Ross,” wife Karen Dichter told the Daily News. “I think it was very nice that they recognized him for all his dedication and the work he continues to do at home.”