5 Precinct Leadership Team Brings Decades of Dedication to the Job
Commander Purifoy and Captain Pellerito. Image courtesy of Susan Newell
Lawrence Purifoy might very well be a Ford Motor Company executive today instead of Commander of the 5 Precinct if he’d gotten a different phone call back in the summer of 1996. He had an uncle in the Detroit Police Department at the time, who’d asked him to “come help me fight crime in the street.” He applied to the DPD as well as Ford, and the DPD happened to call him back first. Looking back at that pivotal moment almost three decades later, he says “I haven’t regretted my decision.”
Over those years, Cmdr. Purifoy has worked his way up the ranks in many capacities, including Sgt. in the 2 and 4 Precincts, Lieutenant in the 10 Precinct, Captain and Commander in the 9 Precinct, and in the Tactical Services Section.
During the early years, Cmdr. Purifoy says he saw narcotics and shootings rise, and the emergence of carjackings. In more recent years, though, crime has dropped in all those areas. “Across the city we’re down double digits in non-fatal shootings… Overall violent crime is definitely down because residents and police are helping each other more.”
He also attributes the reduction in gun-related crime to the controversial gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter, introduced as a pilot program in 2014 in the 8 and 9 Precincts. “Initially I was on the fence (about it),” he says, “but 3 or 4 years into it, I think it’s very effective.” The 5 Precinct doesn’t use ShotSpotter, at least not yet, because the violent crime rate is low here.
On his days off, you might find Cmdr. Purifoy driving or tinkering with his 1937 Chevy, which he’s owned for the past 18 years. “I’m a car guy,” he says with a smile. “My uncle and I built it in his garage.” He’s also a boat guy who enjoys cruising the local waters in his 39-foot Sea Ray.
Cmdr. Purifoy’s colleague on the leadership team is Captain Scott Pellerito, who joined the force in 1999. “I’ve always had an interest in police work and wanted to make a difference in the world,” he says. His career started here in the 5 Precinct, where he worked patrol for five years. Capt. Pellerito has also served as Sergeant in the 8 Precinct and Lieutenant in Crime Scene Services, which processes forensic evidence.
“The 5 had a lot of violent crime when I started, related to just about everything,” he says. But “crime in the city as a whole has changed tremendously in a positive way.” Like the Commander, Capt. Pellerito credits Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs like ShotStoppers (not to be confused with ShotSpotters) as well as Operation Green Light, the network of surveillance cameras on businesses started in 2016, and the Crime Intelligence Unit established in 2020.
Capt. Pellerito isn’t one to just lounge around on the couch in his free time. He owns two motorcycles and is working on getting his pilot’s license. And he, too, is a boat guy. He hasn’t been out boating yet with the Commander, but says he assumes they’ll be on a Sea Ray together sometime soon.
