She called the surge of anti-cop sentiment and the defund-the-police movement that has brought violent demonstrations and destruction to parts of the city “heartbreaking.”
The idea came to James, 49, after she volunteered with the FDNY to send thank-you cards to service members stationed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the troops started to return home, she decided to turn her pen and gratitude toward the NYPD.
To date, she has written more than 4,000 cards that she’s given to officers in all of the city’s 77 precincts and some working details at Yankee Stadium. She keeps a list of everyone she has thanked so far.
“There are 36,000 cops, so I have a lot of writing to do,” she said.