Captain Holt wears his Commendation breast bar above his World Trade Center Breast Bar. When the WTC bar is worn, it is worn above all other medals, but below the American Flag bar.
Santiago is wearing 2 citation bars that are not issued by the NYPD. Also, NYPD regulations require that the American Flag bar be worn as the highest citation bar - something Santiago would have known.
Almost three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union and communism, Latvia, as a member of the EU for the entirety of Nikolaj's life, does not identify social classes within the meaning of the pre-1991 "working class" and Nikolaj would not be familiar with the concept.