NEW YORK – With rifles in the air, members of the NYPD’s Elite Emergency Services Unit (ESU) have boarded a train in search of an armed suspect.
Another detective goes through the concrete looking for a buried person.
“Police! Stop!” a detective from ESU A-Team screams as he bursts through a door to execute a search warrant.
It’s all a drill at ESU’s specialized training school at Floyd Bennett Field, supervised by Chief Wilson Aramboles.
“We do eight months of training and some of these guys are very professional. They are some of the best. What we do is a tactical component of the NYPD,” Aramboles said.
Aramboles, or “Rambo” as he is known, knows this firsthand. He is a former ESU detective, sergeant and captain.
“We handle a lot of barricade negotiations. If it’s an active shooter, we take care of that. We are also the number one hazmat team in New York City as a rescue component. We also handle rescues like the exit. of automobiles, “said Aramboles. “We also have emotionally disturbed people who are on top of the roof.”
Aramboles is the highest ranking Dominican officer in the NYPD.
“I came from the Dominican Republic when I was 10 years old. So when I came to the Lower East Side. That neighborhood was very congested with narcotics and also a lot of crime going on in that area. It was difficult growing up in that area,” he said.
One crime he personally experienced was when his own mother was robbed while he was growing up on Avenue D in the East Village.
“I informed my mother that I wanted to be a police officer. My mother was a little upset because she wanted me to finish college first. So I promised her that I would finish college after entering the police department, which I did,” Aramboles said .
The 33-year veteran of the department worked in the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights, a place many residents of Dominican descent call home.
“I was probably one of only two Dominicans in the precinct. Compared to today, right now, there is a large group of Dominican police in precinct 34,” he said.
And that makes a huge difference, as crime victims are more likely to interact with police officers who speak their language and who look like them.
“I felt like I was back in the Dominican Republic, dealing with the same culture that I know and with which I was born. It was very good to help other Dominicans, workers who wanted to improve in life. [pero] I also had to deal with the Dominicans who were criminals, ”he said.
Aramboles acknowledges that his rise in the department is due in part to the pioneers who preceded him, such as Carlos Gómez, the first Hispanic department head who is now retired.
“It opened the door for someone like me to get promoted in the New York City Police Department,” he said.
“I see our Hispanic officers moving up within the New York City Police Department, like where I am right now, and they are an example for others who move up for the opportunity to move up.”
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