The Military Order of the Purple Heart honored Detective Harvey for being a wounded public servant – and remaining with the Albany Police Department after his injury.

More than a year has passed by since Officer Timothy Harvey was shot pursuing a victim on the 700 block of 8^th Avenue.  On September 9, 2009 he received an award through a wounded in action program.  Detective Harvey says the award is touching.  "It means a lot to me that somebody’s actually caring, somebody’s actually paying attention to what we do as police officers" says Harvey.  He also says the road to recovery hasn't been easy but he's had a lot of support.

Family members say Timothy had an unusually positive outlook on the injury and they’re glad the situation wasn’t worse.  "He’s calm he’s just like 'hey this is what I do, what do you expect - this is what can happen', you know he just acted like it was part of what he’d already chosen to do - no big deal" says Timothy's father Ben Harvey.

When Jim Yancey, a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, heard of the shooting – they thought the shooting was a big deal – and deserved recognition.  "Seems like wounded people are forgotten sometimes, anytime anybody’s wounded - that’s part of our occupation as wounded people ourselves is to help others.  Being wounded means a lot to us, it means they paid the sacrifice" says Yancey.

Instead of working the streets in the Patrol Unit Officer Harvey is now a detective working in the general theft division in the investigative unit.  His family is happy that he’s alive and that he received the award.

"Of course I feel glad that he’s here to get the award.  He could have been laying out there dead in the street that night and stayed there, but I’m glad that people recognize what these guys go through and the kind of person he is" says Timothy's father Ben Harvey.                        

Detective Harvey says he’s proud to work for the Albany police department and is appreciative of the award.