As Nocco talked to the man, officers assigned to the 17th District pulled up and took over the investigation. It was discovered the man had been beaten by men suspected of being Jamacian drug dealers, said Nocco, who normally can be found commanding the Northeast Detective Division, at Harbison Avenue and Levick Street.
With the other officers on the scene, Nocco resumed patrolling the South Philadelphia sector he had been assigned for the night.
Nocco was on the street again as result of a decision by Police Commissioner Willie Williams to have commanders as well as officers assigned non-patrol duties to step in during the summer vacation months and aid with street patrols. One night a week, the commanders can be found patrolling city streets in four-hour shifts. In addition, 84 officers normally assigned non- patrol duties have been reassigned to steady patrol shifts for the summer.
The program is designed to increase police presence in areas plagued by drugs and crime.
Other Northeast command officers also pulling the 8 p.m. to midnight shift the same night as Nocco were Inspector William McDonough, who heads the Northeast Police Division, and Capt. Robert Deeds, commander of the 15th Police District.
Each began his first night's patrol duties with a roll call at the Police Administration Building, Eighth and Race Streets, before leaving for his assignment.
Nocco, who at 46 runs five miles a day, looked at the special assignment as ''a challenge . . . doing my part to try to help the police commissioner and the people of Philadelphia."
"If this is what it takes, I'll do it. . . . In fact, I would like to see it done for a week at a time," Nocco said.
McDonough and Deeds, who like Nocco work out of a police facility at Harbison Avenue and Levick Street, spent their evening patrolling in the Northeast.
