Meet the NYPD's highest ranking Dominican officer

NEW YORK CITY - Chief Wilson Aramboles is the highest ranking Dominican cop within the NYPD. 

He oversees the Special Operations Division, which has five Subunits: emergency service, aviation, harbor, mounted and strategic response. They are known for carrying out some of the most daring operations, such as air-and-sea rescues, barricading perpetrators and jumpers from city bridges and high rises.

"A lot of people joke around, and they say I’m the chief of all the great toys that the NYPD has," Chief Aramboles said.

A lot of toys that Aramboles says come with a great deal of responsibility.

FOX 5 NY was behind the scenes as scuba divers jumped off helicopters and practiced rescues.

"It’s not just like you see in the movies. These personnel are highly trained," Aramboles said.

For Aramboles, supervising life-threatening responses comes to him naturally after nearly 37 years in the department. He was born in La Vega, Dominican Republic and moved to the U.S. when he was 10 years old.

"I lived in the Lower East Side in the Lillian projects. My mother was a victim of crime and I felt horrible that I wasn’t there to help her and protect her," Aramboles said.

‘She was proud of her son’

That moment made him want to help other New Yorkers not fall victims of crimes. Aramboles joined the police academy and rose through the ranks.

"I saw the eyes of my mother, my late mother, when I made captain. I could see in her eyes she was proud of her son," Aramboles said.

The same pride is also shared with other high-ranking Latino cops within the Special Operations Division, who know how competitive and rigorous the training can be. Hispanics make up about 32% of the NYPD.

"It’s been a nice steady progress for the Latino community within the department, and I see it growing," said Assistant Chief Carlos Valdez, from the Emergency Service Unit.