Captain Jack Conway, Ceremonial Unit, Police Department: I'd now like to introduce the members of our dais. I ask that you please hold all your applause until all have been introduced. Starting on your left, the chief of department, Michael LiPetri; the police commissioner of the City of New York, the Honorable Jessica S. Tisch; the mayor of the City of New York, the Honorable Zohran Mamdani; the Police Department's first deputy commissioner, Tania Kinsella; president and CEO of the Battery Park City Authority, Raju Mann; and Police Department chaplain, Father Joseph Franco.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is our dais, and we thank them for being here today. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the president and CEO of the Battery Park City Authority, Mr. Raju Mann.
Raju Mann, President and CEO, Battery Park City Authority: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Captain Conway. Good morning, Mayor Mamdani, Commissioner Tisch, distinguished guests, and above all, the families, friends and colleagues of those we honor today.
On behalf of Gov. Hochul and the Battery Park City Authority, welcome to Battery Park City. Each autumn since 1997, we've gathered here to remember those who gave their lives in service to the City of New York. We reflect on their extraordinary sacrifice made by these heroes and their loved ones and the example they set for the rest of us.
It is a privilege to care for this memorial and to help preserve the memory of those names who are written here. In a few moments, the names of 42 members of the NYPD will be unveiled, etched in stone for their families and loved ones [and] for their colleagues. We thank you, and we hope this memorial serves as a reminder of our city's deep gratitude for their service and sacrifice. Thank you.
Captain Conway: And thank you, Mr. Mann. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the mayor of the City of New York, the Honorable Zohran Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is a solemn privilege to be here alongside Commissioner Tisch and NYPD leadership as we remember 42 members of the New York City Police Department who gave their lives in service to this city. And it is an immense honor to be here alongside the loved ones and the family members of the fallen officers we are here to commemorate.
I'm also proud to be here alongside Battery Park Association President Raju Mann, our NYPD Chief of Department Mike LiPetri, NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella; we have our Detectives' Endowment Association President Scott Munro, Sergeants Benevolent Association Vice President Edmund Small, Lieutenants Benevolent Association President Lou Turco, Captains Endowment Association Vice President Robert Hachemeister and NYPD master of ceremonies, Captain Jack Conway.
Now, if you listen, you may hear the sound of a city in motion, the hum of a ferry, waves against the seawall, an excavator at work. But beneath that sound lies a silence, the silence left by 42 members of service. It was a silence that resonates in their homes and precincts, on the streets where they walked the beat and the lives of the 8.5 million New Yorkers they protected.
The work of being an NYPD officer demands immense sacrifice. Every day, our officers wake up and choose to take on an enormous burden, to risk their lives for strangers that they've never met. And every day, no matter the danger, no matter the threat, these officers answer the call made of them.
Forty-one of the officers we honor today served in the rescue and recovery efforts after the horrific terror attacks of September 11. In the depths of our city's darkest moment, they came together as one. In the weeks and months that followed, they searched the pile for survivors, passing buckets of debris from hand to hand.
On Staten Island, they sifted through a mountain of wreckage at Fresh Kills, searching for anything that could bring a grieving family an answer. And as the rest of the city slowly returned to its routines, they kept working, with unwavering devotion, breathing in toxic air and fumes and offering all that they had, day after day.
We know all too well the toll that that sacrifice took. Years later, they fell ill, and their families, who had already given so much, were asked to once again give more.
Among those we remember today is Sgt. Albert Morabito, who served the NYPD for four decades in the 19th Precinct and on Highway Patrol. Today, his son Paul and his daughter Amanda wear that same uniform.
We also remember Detective Richard Teemsma, who answered the call to serve twice, first as a United States Marine and then as a member of this department in Midtown South, the Emergency Service Unit and the Bomb Squad. Today, his son carries both his name and his calling, as he serves as a sergeant in the NYPD.
The officers we honor today served in different eras and under different commands. But they were united by a shared courage, one that asked for no witness and sought no reward, a willingness to shoulder the city's dangers so that the rest of us would never have to.
One of the officers we honor today, Detective Didarul Islam, carried that courage to his final breath. Last year, in the midst of the most horrific mass shooting our city had seen in 25 years, Detective Islam placed himself in harm's way so that his fellow New Yorkers could escape to safety.
After his senseless murder, his family welcomed me into their home. They spoke to me of the husband, the father, the brother they were mourning, a man who was compassionate, humble, selfless and kind.
And every family here today is reckoning with that same loss, the loss of a parent or partner, son or daughter, brother or sister, someone who gave everything and asked for nothing in return.
To all of you, I know that no name etched in granite can capture the fullness of the person that you lost. No ceremony can lift the weight that you carry. I thank you for loving these New Yorkers, for raising these New Yorkers, for tending to them as they tended to all of us.
While we cannot feel the silence they left behind, we will refuse to let their memory fade. We will speak their names, and we will stand beside you as they stood beside this city.
As the names of our fallen officers are unveiled, let us also not simply remember, but let us renew our obligation to every officer who rose to the city's defense in its darkest moments. Let us renew our commitment to the families of those that we have lost and let us prove ourselves worthy of their sacrifice by building a safer, better city for all. Thank you very much.
Captain Conway: And thank you, Mayor Mamdani. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the police commissioner of the City of New York, the Honorable Jessica S. Tisch.
Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch: Good morning, everyone. Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us as we honor these members of the NYPD and stand with their families. And thank you, of course, to Raju Mann and the Battery Park City Authority for your stewardship of this memorial and for ensuring that our fallen officers have a permanent place in the city that they served.
There is something deeply moving about this place. All around us, New York is in motion. People are heading to work. Children are going to school. The city is going about its business. And here we pause. We pause to remember the people who helped make all of that possible and who lost their lives in service to others.
Today, we unveil 42 names on this wall. Each name represents a life that meant far more than we could ever capture in an inscription. Someone whose presence filled a home, whose voice a fellow officer still remembers, whose absence is felt at moments that the rest of us may never see.
For their families, these names have always meant everything. By placing them here, we make a promise that they will mean something to generations of New Yorkers, too.
Among those we honor is Detective First Grade Didarul Islam. Didarul worked hard to build a life for his family in this country, and he gave his life in service to this city that he had made his home.
We also honor former Chief of Department Joe Esposito, Chief "Espo," a cop's cop and one of the most consequential leaders that this department has ever known. He was a mentor to generations of cops, and he understood what they faced because he was so often right there beside them.
In the aftermath of September 11, he gave this department the steady leadership that it so desperately needed. Our officers knew that the man leading them had been through the devastation with them. The bond with his cops defined Chief Espo, and the lessons that he taught them remain part of the New York City Police Department today.
Their names now join those of colleagues whose service spanned different eras and whose lives ended under different circumstances. What binds them is the oath that they took and the sacrifice that brings us all here today.
This year, we mark the 25th anniversary of September 11. Here, just steps from where the Twin Towers once stood, we know that the toll of that day is still growing. We've lost members who answered the call that morning and who worked in the rescue and recovery that followed. Some lived for years with illnesses caused by that service.
The passage of time does not diminish what they gave, and it cannot diminish our responsibility to remember them.
To the families here today, thank you for allowing us to honor your loved ones with you. We know that this ceremony cannot ease every painful moment or fill the space that they left in your lives, but we hope that you find some comfort in knowing that their department remembers them and that you remain part of the NYPD family long after we leave this morning.
Their names will remain here, and our obligation to you will remain just as firmly.
May God bless the New York City Police Department and may the memories of these 42 fallen members be a blessing. Stay safe.
Captain Conway: Thank you, Commissioner Tisch. At this time, I'm going to invite our family members to join the members of our dais down at the wall for the unveiling.
