2007年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-Making a Difference

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You know, Dave Murphy's story is the kind of amazing American tale we often find when we listen to StoryCorps. That travel oral history project records everyday Americans often talking about their work, like Walter Fahey who walked the streets of Boston as a police officer for decades. He's now retired¹ and he recently spoke² with his son Bill about his time on the job.

"I was a cop. A good reputation on the street is I never looked down on people, so that's why I lasted 40 years."

"As a policeman, a lot of people burn out early, get out as quick as they could get out, you didn't wanna leave? "

"No, remember the time they made me a detective, and I hated it. Then I one day sat down and wrote a resignation³ to Mickey Roach who was then police commissioner⁴. He called me up and was like nobody's ever quit. I said, I gotta get back on the street. He said, "you are getting older, isn't it?" I gotta get back on the street where I make a difference. And the last years of my career I went back to what I did best."

"Wasn't it in the 60s, you stopped that girl from jumping off the building?"

"She was 15 years old. And I stood up on that roof for an hour and a half and I said, if she jumps, I'm gonna jump. "

"What did you say to her?"

"Well, I told her, I said, hey, you are only a kid. Life is worth living. And she started crying. She gave me a hug and said thank you for not letting me kill myself. She went on to have four children. I presume⁵ she's still alive today, she's probably a grandmother. "

"What was the most frightened you ever were on the job?"

"Be shot at twice, hit by a car twice, thrown off a porch⁶ once, say and that's a good one. "

"Of all the violence you had to see every day, well, how did you turn it off? "

"By coming home to a loving wife, loving children and just go back to work the next day like nothing ever happened. Life goes on. There's nothing we can do about it."

"Would you ever just wanna see any of your grandchildren become policeman? "

"If it's their choice, I'd be proud to pin a badge⁷ on one of my grand kids."

Retired police officer Walter Fahey with his son Bill in Boston.

He spoke in a StoryCorps booth. And you hear stories like this every Friday morning on Morning Edition. This interview will be archived at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress along with all the others. And you can hear more of them at npr.org.

Major funding for StoryCorps comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.