Windsor Terrace's long-time beat cop, Mike Cleary, retired from the NYPD on Friday after twenty-seven years of service to New York City.
When he joined the New York Police Department in 1985, his first assignment was in Harlem. He served there for five years.
His second assignment was much closer to home--the 72nd Precinct. On this assignment, which lasted for the next twenty-two years (1991 through 2013), he worked in the Community Policing Unit, on foot patrol in the streets of Windsor Terrace. Author and columnist Denis Hamill said that residents call Detective Cleary "the Sheriff of Windsor Terrace."
Detective 2nd Grade Michael Cleary already knew those streets quite well, having been born and raised in Windsor Terrace. He served as an altar boy at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, graduated from Immaculate
Heart of Mary School (Class of 1976), and
graduated from Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School (Class of 1980).
We wish the fifty-year-old Mike Cleary another fifty years to enjoy a healthy and active retirement.