Five times since the terrorist attacks of 2001, police officers have been shot dead in the line of duty. Four of those times, the families of black officers have taken front-row seats for the funerals.
The number of black people in the 37,000-member Police Department has risen slowly over the decades, but more rapidly in recent years. Blacks now make up 17.4 percent of the force - up from 9.2 percent in 2001 in a city where more than 25 percent of the population is black. Since 2001, though, the names of black officers and detectives have all but filled the list destined for permanent inscription in gilded bas-relief above the entrance to Police Headquarters: "Those Who Died in Performance of Duty," as the plaque says.
As More New York Blacks Wear Blue, More Are Dying in the Line of Duty
Maybe they are only numbers: Four out of five.
Five times since the terrorist attacks of 2001, police officers have been shot dead in the line of duty. Four of those times, the families of black officers have taken front-row seats for the funerals.
The number of black people in the 37,000-member Police Department has risen slowly over the decades, but more rapidly in recent years. Blacks now make up 17.4 percent of the force – up from 9.2 percent in 2001 in a city where more than 25 percent of the population is black. Since 2001, though, the names of black officers and detectives have all but filled the list destined for permanent inscription in gilded bas-relief above the entrance to Police Headquarters: “Those Who Died in Performance of Duty,” as the plaque says.
