Funeral services for the NYPD officer slain in the Midtown mass shooting will be laid to rest Thursday, it was announced.
NYPD
The NYPD and the people of New York will bid farewell on Thursday to Police Officer Didarul Islam, one of the four people shot and killed by the mad gunman behind Monday’s Midtown mass shooting on Park Avenue.
Though he was working an off-duty security detail at the time of his death, Officer Islam is rightly receiving the ceremony and respect due to an officer killed in the line of duty. He wore the NYPD uniform and shield, after all — symbols of a department sworn to uphold the law and keep the people of New York safe from all distress.
The stories of all four victims of Monday’s mass shooting are all tragic in their own way. Islam’s story is perhaps the most heartbreaking.
His life was that of service to his adopted home of New York. He emigrated with his family to the United States from Bangladesh, and he joined the NYPD four years ago, taking the same oath as so many other brave men and women have done to protect people he did not know from any threats that may come their way.
The starting salary of a police officer, in the early part of their career, is not nearly enough for the responsibilities thrust upon them — a little shy of $60,000 in their rookie year today. On top of that, he had a growing family — a loving wife and two young sons, with a third on the way — to support.
Yet as it has been reported, he gave back to his community anyway, donating money and personal time to the nearby Bronx Islamic Cultural Center in his home community of Parkchester, helping to feed those in need.
It’s not surprising, in that sense, that he needed a few extra dollars to make ends meet. As a result, Islam was one of the many police officers who enlisted in the voluntary off-duty security detail program that the NYPD has in cooperation with private businesses to pay off-duty cops to stand guard during their off hours.
For someone so generous with his time and committed to family, the community and the city to have been cut down in the prime of his life, as Islam was on Monday evening in Manhattan, is the very definition of tragedy. This loss is personal, not just for those who knew him best, but for the city as a whole.
We should take a moment today to remember Officer Islam, his family and the NYPD today. We should also commit to promoting acts of kindness in our communities as well — giving of our time, talents and fortune whenever we can to make the city a little better.
We should also recommit to an unflinching support of the NYPD and recognize that every time they put on the uniform, they risk their lives to protect all of us.
It’s the best way to honor this fallen officer’s memory.
→ Continue reading at amNY
