With more than 25,000 police officers thronging to the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens, N.Y., for the funeral of an New York Police Department officer killed last weekend, Vice President Joe Biden praised law enforcement officials and their families for their public service.
“Police officers and police families are a different breed. Thank God for them,” Biden said at the funeral for Rafael Ramos, 40.
Ramos and his partner, 32-year-old Wenjian Liu, were killed Dec. 20 while sitting in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The shooter later killed himself.
“He was a cop for all the right reasons,” Biden said of Ramos.
Tensions have been running high for law enforcement in recent weeks following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.
Both men were black, unarmed and killed by white police officers. Grand juries decided against indicting either officer, which led to nationwide protests about racial inequality.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley claimed to be motivated by those incidents, as he made references to the deaths of Brown and Garner on social media before killing the officers.
Biden said that if there were any place that could overcome these heated times, it was New York City.
“I believe that this great police force and this incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide. You’ve done it before, and you will do it again,” Biden said.
In New York City, the response has been particularly acute.
NYPD officers turned their backs on Bill de Blasio, the city’s mayor, for what they consider lack of support from the mayor’s office.
A handful of retired law enforcement officials paid for a plane to fly a banner Friday that read “DE BLASIO, OUR BACKS HAVE TURNED TO YOU” over the city.
