Born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, Harold Jacob joined the New York Police Department on November 1, 1933. Known by several nicknames — including Harry, Buddy, and Jake — Jacob was married to his wife Dorothy for 35 years. The couple had six children. Jacob spent 13 years with the 17th Precinct. In 1945, he was hospitalized when he was assaulted by three burglars he was arresting. They had pulled dozens of jobs in midtown. Shortly afterward, Jacob was promoted to Detective and reassigned to the Safe, Loft, and Truck Squad. During his career, he covered the garment district regularly for 21 years. In 1952, he and a partner noticed two payroll messengers getting robbed. During an exchange of gunfire with the crook, the perp was wounded and later identified as a repeat offender. According to the Honor Legion, Jacob was cited more than 40 times for his heroic police actions. In 1954, Jacob was promoted to Detective first grade. According to the Honor Legion, Det. Jacob was offered many opportunities to work “inside,” but preferred working “the streets” in the borough where he was born. On January 18, 1967, Harry and his partners heard gunshots coming from a West 35th Street building. Det. Jacob saw what looked to be a perpetrator fleeing the scene and called for the man to drop his weapon. Instead, the perp fired shots at the Officers, and during the resulting chase, the Detectives shot the perp, and by the time the Investigators caught up with him, the perp dropped dead in their arms. However, when Jacob and a partner ran back to the lobby to assist at the scene of the original shooting, Det. Jacob was assisting a messenger who was lying wounded on the floor. Jacob suddenly keeled over, felled by a massive heart attack. He was rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Years later, his partner, Det. Ed Gilmurray, recounted the story for the DEA magazine, The Gold Shield. Gilmurray was a partner of both Harold Jacob and later his son, Henry (Buddy) Jacob, who was also on the job and transferred from the 5 Squad to his father’s spot on the Safe, Loft, and Truck Squad after his father’s death. Buddy was given his father’s shield number of #180. Ironically, Henry also died of a heart attack years later, but was off duty at the time. Harold’s grandson, Richard Jacob, retired as a Sergeant out of Brooklyn South in 2002, and granddaughter Allison Mullen retired as a Sergeant in 2017, after 20 years on the job. In June of 1968, Harold Jacob was posthumously awarded the Department’s highest accolade, its Medal of Honor. A new plaque was dedicated to him on June 27, 2019, at police headquarters in the Major Case room. Read more about Det. Jacob on the DEA's website.