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“We’re a 30-officer department, and more than half came in
to do this, most of them on their day off,” Shafer continued.
With lights flashing and sirens blaring, a caravan of police ve-
hicles typically reserved for a VIP escort rolled up to the LaRosa
household. The response surprised everybody.
“I didn’t know it was going to be that intense,” Catrina con-
fessed. “My husband kept it quiet; he wanted me to be sur-
prised, too. It was awesome.”
Upon arrival, officers observed an ecstatic family. Inside the
LaRosa’s house, they discovered Micco dressed in full uniform
– his police officer Halloween costume that Verona officers had
acquired earlier from Mike and upgraded with a Verona PD
patch and Micco’s nametag.
“Twenty officers came into my house,” Catrina said. “We had
to move the couch out of the way. It was awesome. I was cry-
ing. They said, ‘We need your help at the station – can you come
with us?’”
Answering the call to duty, Micco, along with his parents and
older brother Leo, were loaded into the police cars and taken to
the station with the same lights and sirens grandeur with which
the officers arrived.
The kids were given a tour of the station, learned how dis-
patch works, had their fingerprints taken and played with K-9
Officer Benning before Chief Kiernan read a proclamation offi-
cially swearing them in as deputies for a day.
“After the headquarters tour, we took them out back and let
them play in the police cars, hitting the lights and sirens for a
while,” Shafer added. “It was a cold day, but it didn’t matter to
them. They were too excited.”
When their shift over was, Micco and his family returned
40
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ FEBRUARY 2019
home. And everybody was over the moon after a great day.
“A week later, I received a message from Ed saying they had
another gift for Micco,” Catrina recalled. “About six officers
soon arrived with a Power Wheels police car with all the bells
and whistles, totally tricked out with Verona stickers. Micco was
so excited with the buttons and noise it made that he wouldn’t
even pose for a picture.”
Catrina later expressed that Micco sits in the car every morn-
ing and returns to it as soon as he gets home from school.
“He even wants to sleep next to it,” she proclaimed.
After Catrina posted some heartwarming photos taken by
Carattini on her Facebook page, Micco’s story went viral.
“We didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” Shafer admitted.
“The family posted about it on social media, not us – it was al-
ways just about Micco for us.”
Kiernan’s description of his officers’ community service ef-
forts confirmed that actions like this are par for the course in
Verona.
“Not to downplay this, but I see my PBA members go above
and beyond like this every day,” he highlighted. “Verona tends
to promise the moon, then goes ahead and delivers it.”
Of course, the LaRosa family agreed.
“We’re not surprised by this act of kindness from law enforce-
ment at all,” Catrina offered. “We’re just so thankful for the Ve-
rona Police Department and all officers in general. Micco’s an
amazing kid, and this is such an amazing story.”
It appears that Micco was amazing enough that his first day
on the job in fact may not be his last.
“As I told him that day, we’re friends forever – that’s it,” Kier-
nan stated. “Maybe he’ll work for us one day.”
He already has a uniform.