NBPD Spotlight — S1 E1: “This is the Place That I Call Home.”

“My name’s Ofc. Hector Rivera, I’m 28 years old, I’ve been working with the City of New Bedford Police since December of 2022.”

“The reason I stopped your vehicle is just because your right brake light is out. That’s the only thing — I’m just letting you know — give me one second, stay in the car, I’ll be right back, ok?”

“Everything looks good on her vehicle, just the brake light, so what I’m going to do is I’m going to give her one of those Lights On! Vouchers so she can get that brake light fixed,” said Ofc. Rivera

“Ok, you’re just going to get a warning for it. What I’m also going to do is I’m also going to give you one of these vouchers so you’ll be able to get that light fixed for free, okay?”

“It was a lifelong dream of mine to become a police officer. I was honestly very lucky — I had a mentor at an early age, Ofc. Allann Fonseca,” he said. “I was a tough kid, you know, I grew up in the projects. As most of us did at an early age, we do a lot of stupid things in school and, I didn’t like going to school, and he was that person to guide me and just always, he always saw that potential in me.”

“My goal was to, you know, make an impact, change someone, right? And I took that as a challenge when they said to focus on this particular person,” said Ofc. Fonseca. “Hector was always, I think a caring person, I think that was just in his nature. It just had to be brought out a little bit in him.”

“I was lucky to see how Allann would interact with the community, how he interacted with me, I thought it would be a way for me to be able to give back to my community in a way that Allann gave back for me,” said Rivera. “It just left a huge impact on my life, so because of him, that’s the reason why I’m here, and if I can do that for the next kid — I’ll be the richest man on earth.”

“I think he owes himself some gratitude because he is the one that ultimately got himself to where he is,” said Fonseca.

“You can go anywhere and be a police officer but I personally don’t think that their’s anywhere else better than giving back to the community that you grew up in,” said Ofc. Rivera. “I grew up in New Bedford Housing, so I’m able to now go back and give back to those kids that are living in the same situation that I was as a kid, and I just don’t, I don’t think their’s anything better than that.”

“The only reason why I stopped you, your right headlight is out, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give you a voucher ok — once I fill it out, I’m gonna bring it back to you ok, and then you can bring it somewhere to get your headlight fixed ok?”

“I mean, I can go anywhere else and be a police officer but — New Bedford was it for me because this is my, this is home, this is the place that I call home,” he said.