Commissioner urges respect at NYC officer’s wake

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014, photo, the American and New York state and city flags fly at half-staff outside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. As thousands of mourners prepare to attend the wake and funeral of a second New York City police officer killed in an ambush shooting, police Commissioner William Bratton is urging the rank-and-file to refrain from making political statements. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File) FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014, photo, the American and New York state and city flags fly at half-staff outside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. As thousands of mourners prepare to attend the wake and funeral of a second New York City police officer killed in an ambush shooting, police Commissioner William Bratton is urging the rank-and-file to refrain from making political statements. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

By Associated Press January 3, 2015 1 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton is urging his employees who attend a slain officer’s wake and funeral to refrain from making political statements.

In a memo read at roll calls ahead of the Saturday wake for Officer Wenjian Liu (WEHN’-jihn loo), Bratton says “a hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”

That’s a reference to hundreds of officers turning their backs to TV monitors displaying Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) delivering remarks at the funeral for Officer Rafael Ramos a week ago.

Police union leaders have accused de Blasio of helping to foster an anti-police atmosphere by supporting demonstrations following the chokehold death of an unarmed black man by a white officer.

Liu and Ramos were ambushed Dec. 20 in their patrol car. Their shooter committed suicide.