In a building full of cops, a mystery doesn't go unsolved for very long.
About a year ago on the second floor of Buffalo Police Headquarters, Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda decided to spruce up the place by creating a photo gallery on the freshly painted walls.
Photographs of police officers in action and the city's architectural treasures were installed to showcase the history of the department and the city.
One photograph features President William McKinley just prior to his assassination at the Pan-American Exposition.
Another photograph shows the department's blacksmith shop in the days before automobiles.
Then there is the mystery photograph.
This old black-and-white picture displays a young officer on a snowy night checking in at a police call box -- phone in one hand and night stick in the other.
Who was that cop from years ago?
"Some said it was this guy, others said it was that guy," said Dennis J. Richards, chief of the force's Detective Division.
But no one knew for certain, deepening the mystery.
Capt. Patrick G. Mann Jr., a native of the Old First Ward, professed to know the precise location of where the picture was snapped, though not the mystery officer's name.
The photo was taken at South Park Avenue and Louisiana Street, with the Commodore Perry Housing Project and an old "NFT" bus stop sign in the background, Mann said.
On a summer visit to Police Headquarters, retired Lt. Larry J. Baehre took one look at the picture and declared it to be that of his old friend Jimmy "Sandsy" Sands.
But there were skeptics.
That is until the one and only Jimmy Sands, now 80, showed up at headquarters last week to confirm it was indeed him.
Knowing he would need hard evidence, Sands, who retired 21 years ago, brought a copy of an old Buffalo Evening News story written by Elliot Shapiro that included the photograph. The story detailed the rookie officer's first night out on solo beat patrol.
"When I opened that call box, a bird flew out of it," Sands recalled.
So on that memorable journey some 48 years ago, Sands confessed, he had his feathers ruffled.
email: [email protected]
Copyright 2011 The Buffalo NewsAll Rights Reserved
