STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Lt. Joseph Bell’s 37-year career with the New York City Police Department ended the way it began — with handcuffs and an arrest.
The day before his retirement ceremony at the 122 Precinct stationhouse in New Dorp, Bell made one final off-duty arrest when a suspect broke into his neighbor’s home on Staten Island’s South Shore.
“I did have to make an arrest yesterday off duty. Somebody broke into my neighbor’s house and I had to go make a burglary arrest,” Bell told the crowd gathered to honor his retirement.
The arrest was a fitting end to a career that spanned nearly four decades, including 24 years as the commanding officer of Highway 5, one of the NYPD’s elite motorcycle units…