NY1's latest piece celebrating Black History Month looks at a police detective who goes beyond the call of duty to improve the lives of the people in his Queens neighborhood. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.

When Patrick Blanc speaks, Campus Magnet High School students listen. They look up to the NYPD detective and respect him.

"He's a great person," said one of the students. "I'm happy to have him in my life, honestly."

As Blanc jokingly reminds them, though, the relationship was icy at first. 

"Y'all were looking at me like, 'Oh boy, he's a cop. (laughter) We got to stay away from this guy right here," Blanc joked.

Now, they call him Pat.

Blanc graduated from the school in 1986. He uses his personal time to motivate and empower students through an organization he founded called Embrace Ya Kidz.  

"I swore in 1995 to become a police officer not only to help out when I'm working but to also help out when I'm off-duty," he said.

Embrace Ya Kidz is known for its fundraising for causes in the community, including the burial of two St. Albans children killed in a fire.

Blanc was raised in Southeast Queens and lives here with his son and girlfriend.

"We could have easily left and went to Long Island and moved to Long Island or Westchester, but to me, doing that is quitting my community, and I wouldn't quit my community," Blanc said.

Blanc has worked for years to improve police-community relations. In February, he held a unity march in the wake of the deaths of Eric Garner and NYPD Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. 

"Everybody wants to see a change," he said.

One of his goals is to also get more black men to join the department.

Martin Weir is a substitute teacher and coach at Campus Magnet. Blanc onvinced him to join the force.

"I took the test. I took my medicals," Weir said.

Now, he's waiting to hear back.

None of these kids are planning to join. The seniors are heading off to college. But they said Blanc has given them a new view of the NYPD.

"It made me really realize that outside of the uniform, police officers are like, they're just like everyone else," said one student. 

That's been part of Blanc's goal all along.