Slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s funeral is a massive deal – and politicians would be doing a disservice by not showing up

New York City will bury another murdered police officer on Saturday.

Officer Jonathan Diller will receive a dignified and emotional farewell, in the presence of thousands of police officers from across the country.

After the funeral, his body will be transported from St. Rose of Lima RC Church in Massapequa, the casket draped in the green, white and blue flag of the NYPD, and placed in the funeral hearse.

Uniformed police pallbearers will remove the flag from the coffin, fold it into a neat military-style triangle and solemnly hand the flag over to his widow.

A procession of several hundred police motorcycles will lead the procession to the cemetery.

As the procession begins to leave the church, the NYPD bagpipes will slowly march with only their drums beating the slow funeral march, their drums draped in black and purple mourning cloth.

The hearse carrying his body will be accompanied on each side by four uniformed police officers from the NYPD ceremonial unit.

Solemn and dark ritual

The thousands of grieving police officers lining the route will elegantly salute the officer’s coffin as it passes, accompanied by the solemn beating of bagpipe drums.

Civilians will remove their hats and place their hands over their hearts.

The bagpipers will begin to play a tune and the procession will head towards the cemetery.

A police officer’s funeral is one of the most emotional experiences anyone can have.

I’ve been to several and they never cease to move me.

I can’t imagine what was going through the minds of the police officers present.

For those who knew Officer Diller, there is a deep sense of loss, grief for the family, and “what ifs.”

For those who didn’t know him, there is the thought of “who’s next?”

For the spouses and families of each officer, it reinforces the fear that when they say goodbye to them as they leave for work, it may be for the last time.

Officer Diller’s family will receive the support and love of the New York City Police Department and his family support groups for the rest of his life.

But for the family, there is the torment of wondering why did he die?

This is a very difficult question, especially in a city where so many politicians are openly hostile to the police.

But Agent Diller didn’t let that stop him from doing his job.

He and his partner approached this car because it was parked suspiciously and illegally and the incident escalated because the passenger/shooter refused to get out of the car.

Agent Diller didn’t know who he was dealing with.

The criminal who shot him was a master criminal with 21 prior arrests.

The driver of the car has 14 prior arrests, spent nearly a decade in prison for shooting another man, and was released on bail in another gun case in progress.

This is the risk that every police officer in New York takes today: a seemingly innocuous encounter can end in tragedy.

And yet, they take this risk every day as they work to protect people they will never know.

A deep vocation

The Bible tells us: “Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” »

But think about what it means to lay down your life for a stranger.

Because that’s what Agent Diller did.

By taking the steps they did, he and his partner took two very dangerous people off the streets, something our justice system seems increasingly incapable of doing.

These two armed career criminals posed a danger to everyone in New York and Agent Diller’s actions kept them from harming or killing people he would never meet.

These strangers walk around alive today, oblivious to the fact that Officer Diller gave his life so that they could live.

Some police organizations are asking New York City politicians not to attend funerals today.

I completely understand the feelings and anger behind this, but I disagree.

Our politicians should be there.

They should be there to see the tearful faces of police officers, young and old, as they see their colleague taken to the cemetery, thinking, “That could be me one day.”

They should be there as the drums beat a moving funeral march past the slain officer’s coffin.

They should be standing there watching the NYPD flag folded and handed to Officer Diller’s grieving widow.

And then they should go home and think about the harm they did to the NYPD and to this city.

They should then hug their loved ones and ask themselves, “What have we done?”

Jim Quinn was executive prosecutor of the Queens District Attorney’s Office, where he served for 42 years.