It is carefully choreographed and deeply dreaded, an event the New York Police Department plans for, stands ready for every day: the laying to rest of an officer killed in the line of duty.
No matter the particulars or the cause of death, longstanding traditions and powerful symbolism govern the aftermath, all arranged by the department’s Ceremonial Unit. That unit oversees everything from the somber blue-and-black bunting that is hung at the officer’s precinct to the specially trained pallbearers on call for the funeral.
But among the first displays of police unity after a death in the ranks is what is known as the dignified transfer. The department moves the body from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner’s custody to a funeral home or place of worship.
The transfer on Tuesday that followed the killing of Officer Didarul Islam in a Midtown skyscraper was no different — a quiet show of blue unity outside a mosque in Parkchester, in the Bronx.
Reporters Maia Coleman and Wesley Parnell spent all Tuesday outside Officer Islam’s nearby home and were present to witness the minutes when officers began to arrive outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid. They reported what they saw.
Maia Coleman: The scene is striking: a sea of navy blue caps and uniforms, set against the backdrop of the mosque’s brick-and-mosaic-tiled facade.
Officer Islam joined the force three years ago. He could not have met close to a quarter of the officers who turned out on his behalf on Tuesday. They descended en masse, and tow trucks removed cars near the mosque to clear room.
Neighbors watched from porches or came from nearby blocks.
Maia Coleman: Officers have just lined up, precinct by precinct, in anticipation of the dignified transfer. High-ranking officials have formed the head of the line, followed by officers from the 47th Precinct, where Officer Islam served. The line of uniformed personnel, two rows deep, has snaked along the length of Virginia Avenue to the next street. A parade of Police Department motorcycles has just begun motoring down the street in the path between the officers and the sidewalk.
The Police Department has a military hierarchy. On Tuesday, rank felt secondary.
Maia Coleman: Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has arrived at the mosque in a black Chevrolet Suburban. A stream of New York Police Department vehicles and New York State Police cars has followed. It’s silent except for the sound of the tires on pavement and the rumble of a helicopter overhead.
Temperatures topped out at well over 90 degrees in the afternoon, with the humidity making it feel much hotter — the middle of a three-day heat wave gripping the city.
Wesley Parnell: The body of Officer Didarul Islam has been brought into the Parkchester Islamic Center, draped in the green, white and blue flag of the Police Department. Officers stand at attention, saluting the body as it is ushered from an ambulance into the house of worship.
Maia Coleman: The officer’s friends and family, who have been waiting by the mosque’s doors, are filtering in one by one after it.
Wesley Parnell: Commissioner Tisch stands solemnly as Officer Didarul Islam’s body is brought into the Bronx mosque. As she leaves, she does not show emotion, her eyes set and her shoulders squared.
A police official who had been calling the ranks to attention gave a final order to disperse. The sea of blue uniforms melted into huddled groups. Some slowly split off into the steamy evening. Others stayed nearby, as Officer Islam’s family and loved ones quietly held vigil near the mosque. The ceremony lasted perhaps 30 minutes, probably less.
Michael Wilson, who covers New York City, has been a Times reporter for more than two decades.
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