The Barbados native came with his family to Brooklyn when he was five. He played football in high school and college, and then joined the NYPD in 1989. His first assignment out of the police academy was as an officer in Brooklyn’s Housing Police in one of the city’s busiest and, at the time, most crime-ridden areas.
After two years on the beat, he was assigned to the narcotics squad, where he dealt with street-level and mid-level drug crime in Brooklyn and Staten Island. In 1994, he was promoted to Detective, working major investigations that included assaults, homicides and domestic violence. Several of his cases were high-profile, covered in the local papers and TV.
After the 9/11 attack, Harper worked on recovery, sifting for human remains in the rubble brought to the Staten Island landfill.
Richard earned three promotions, working his way up to Detective First Grade, which comes with the prestigeous Gold Shield.
Richard retired from the NYPD in 2014. He started a security business and also did some private investigative work. But his 9/11 service caught up with him in 2020, when he had a bout with cancer. He won that battle, but two years later ended up in the ER with severe back pain. Tests showed he had serious kidney issues, and his condition worsened. Now he undergoes dialysis three times a week, as he is at stage 5 of kidney failure.
At 58, Richard hopes to find a living kidney donor so he can get his life back, enjoying watching sports and spending time with his fiance Angela, a retired NYPD sergeant, his stepdaughter Danielle, a social worker, and his son Christopher, who has four years in the NYPD, working in the same Brooklyn precinct where Richard began his career of service.
Do you want to help Richard? Please share the link to Richard’s story or reach out to Kidneys for Communities at info@kidneysforcommunities.org to learn more about how you can help. The Kidneys for Communities team is here to answer your questions.
