NYC officer's funeral for "grieving not grievance," commissioner says
By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's police commissioner asked members of the force attending services for the second officer slain in Brooklyn last month to refrain from the "act of disrespect" seen at his partner's funeral, when some of the tens of thousands in uniform turned their backs on the mayor. "A hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance," wrote Commissioner Bill Bratton in a memo to be read at roll calls over the weekend, when a wake and funeral will be held for Wenjian Liu, believed to be the first Chinese-American police officer killed in the line of duty in the city. The funeral for his partner, Rafael Ramos, was among the largest in the history of the department, with more than 20,000 officers from around the country filling streets around the church. When de Blasio began his eulogy, many uniformed officers turned their backs on television monitors set up outside, in a gesture of disdain for the liberal mayor following his criticisms of police policies. "For the last seven days, the city's and the country's consciousness has focused on an act of disrespect," said Bratton, who had previously called the action inappropriate. He said it had stolen the "valor, honor and attention" that rightfully belonged to the slain officer. Liu, 32, and Ramos, 40, were shot to death on Dec. 20 as they sat in their squad car in Brooklyn. Their killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who killed himself soon after, had said he was seeking to avenge the deaths this summer of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers. The killing of Liu and Ramos further frayed relations between the rank and file and De Blasio, who vowed to end the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy when he ran for office in 2013. The mayor, who has a biracial son, also offered qualified support for the wave of protests triggered late last year by the black men's deaths in New York and Missouri. BROADENING DIVERSITY Services for Liu were due to take place on Saturday in Brooklyn, not far from where he lived with his wife of two months and his parents. A wake, closed to the public, was to be followed by a funeral that tens of thousands of police were expected to attend. In a sign of the force's broadening ethnic diversity, observances are expected to meld Chinese and Buddhist customs with the usual traditions of an NYPD funeral, which date to when Roman Catholic men of Irish or Italian descent dominated the force. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, one of several city police unions, was among those who turned their backs on de Blasio as the mayor arrived at the hospital where Liu and Ramos were declared dead. Mullins said he did not know whether officers intended to repeat the gesture at Liu's funeral. "I don't think I have the right to interfere in their First Amendment rights," Mullins said in a telephone interview on Friday. Since the ambush of Liu and Ramos, the number of arrests and court summonses in the city has plummeted. Although they have denied a formal slowdown, union leaders have encouraged members to not skirt department rules that may seem time-consuming, including waiting for backup to arrive, in the interest of safety. Mullins said he believed police were still responding to emergencies as before, even if they were issuing fewer tickets for minor violations. "Car stops are a very dangerous aspect of police work," he said. "The public should be happy." In his memo, Bratton said he understood emotions were running high among the rank and file after what he described as the assassination of the two officers. He said his entreaty to the department ahead of Liu's services was not a mandate and he was not threatening to discipline those who did not comply. "But I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it." (Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Frank McGurty and David Holmes)
