Thousands Attending Funeral for Slain NYPD Officer
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: A final goodbye. Thousands of police officers from around the country gathering right now. They're paying final respects to a fellow brother in blue gunned down by a madman inside his squad car. We're live outside the funeral for Detective Wenjian Liu. And difficult but improving conditions. Search teams find more victims from AirAsia Flight 8501 as the airline gets set to make its first payments to families of the 162 victims on board that fateful flight. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. And good morning, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick and this is a special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. For those expecting to see Fareed Zakaria's moon shots, we're live this hour as we prepare for the funeral of fallen NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu. Liu was one of two officers shot and killed by a lone gunman last month. Right now you're looking at live pictures where those funeral services are set to take place on a very rainy Sunday. This was the somber scene yesterday as police lined up to pay their respects at a private wake. The line stretching two full blocks. Among those in attendance Governor Andrew Cuomo who said Officer Liu had his dream job.</s>GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: This was his dream, to become an NYPD officer. In some ways it's the ultimate assimilation into America, into New York, to become a police officer, and obviously he was so proud and he was so proud for his whole family.</s>FEYERICK: And a number of high-profile officials are expected to attend today's service including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and on behalf of the White House FBI Director James Comey. Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has a stern message for the police force, specifically don't turn your backs on the mayor as they did for the first funeral last week. Let's bring in CNN's Miguel Marquez in New York. And Miguel, it is a rainy day but set the scene for us who you're seeing out there and what we're likely to expect.</s>MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family of Wenjian Liu has just arrived, and on the issue that has arisen between the mayor and the police force here, the police commissioner saying that this is a day for grieving, not for grievance. Also saying that in police turning their backs on the mayor as he spoke during Rafael Ramos' funeral last week, that they stole the valor, the honor, the attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of Detective Rafael Ramos' life and his sacrifice. We had a chance to speak to Congressman Joe Crowley who represents the Bronx here but he talked about the moment that those two officers were shot and how that affected not only the Liu family and the Ramos family, but all New Yorkers.</s>REP. JOE CROWLEY (D), NEW YORK: We all recognize the loss to all New Yorkers were shot that day in some respect. Every police officer was shot that day in some respect. Certainly the families here have been dealing with even more, and obviously the two that paid the ultimate sacrifice who are no longer with us. But those lives were not in vain, and they cannot be in vain, and it's also an opportunity for us to have the discussions that we need to have, to talk about the perceptions that do exist, whether they be real or not. The reality is perception is reality for people.</s>MARQUEZ: Wenjian Liu, a seven-year veteran of the New York Police Department. He arrived in New York 20 years ago from Cancun, China. He was an accountant by trade, became a police officer seven years ago. This was his dream job. He's married just earlier this year in September and gunned down and now his family, his new wife is now a widow, grieving heavily. I can say that the city has stepped up enormously. They have raised already $700,000 to pay for both the housing payments -- the mortgages for both Wenjian Liu and Officer Ramos, for their families so that they can have a little bit of security into the future -- Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: Yes. And we can hear the bells there and just for our audience, he was an only child. He lived with his parents and his new wife. And the funeral was delayed because they were bringing some family members from China for this ceremony. The ceremony is going to be a mixture, right, of both NYPD officiants but also a Buddhist ceremony?</s>MARQUEZ: It's not really -- the Buddhist tradition is not exactly a ceremony. We will have several speakers throughout the day including the mayor and the police commissioner, the FBI director, a monsignor, the police chaplain, members of the Liu family. But most of the day, from 11:00 to 1:00 will be spent in a more Buddhist tradition of either burning cardboard or paper to signify material goods or bringing food to the front of the casket to signify the food that the -- that they're loved one will need in the afterlife -- Deborah.</s>FEYERICK: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you so much. The pain just so clearly visible on that family's face. We thank you. And mourners wearing an array of badges and uniforms are already gathering outside the funeral home where the service for Liu is due to begin in just about an hour. Our Sara Ganim is there at 65th Street and 13th Avenue in Brooklyn. Sara, people traveling hours, some across country, just to be there to represent. What are you seeing? OK. Sara, we have lost her IP. We're going to re-establish that but for the time being we're going to bring in our CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes. Tom, this is such a sad day both for the NYPD and the city and the interesting thing is that there have been numerous threats made against police officers. So this is still very real what's going on here.</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, Deb, it's extremely real, and I think that, you know, it's underscored by the degree of grief that police officers everywhere are feeling in this particular instance because of the great amount of controversy that's been swirling around law enforcement in this country now for the last couple of months.</s>FEYERICK: And all the threats that are being made against police officers are being investigated. What does it say that the director of the FBI is now coming to pay his respects and to be there for this family?</s>FUENTES: Well, I think he's showing that whether you're federal, state, or local or actually police officers from all over the world that all officers, all law enforcement officers share in the grief, and, you know, he served a long time in New York and in the United States Attorney's Office in New York, and, you know, and I'm sure he feels it very closely having the close ties to New York especially.</s>FEYERICK: Police officers Wednesday were essentially told to be extra vigilant. With so many people who are expected to turn up for the funeral, some reports by police saying 20,000. Are there additional security concerns in that area because this could be prime targets for any madman?</s>FUENTES: Well, they could be prime targets but you ought to feel pretty safe around 25,000 police officers. So, you know, it does work both ways. They are concerned about security but they sure have the manpower to deal with it.</s>FEYERICK: There's so much bitterness because the NYPD is in the middle of contract negotiations with the mayor. The mayor has made a number of statements that seemed to be anti-police. We're now seeing that arrests by the NYPD have dropped, have plummeted dramatically. Is there a sense that there is a slight slowdown in the number of arrests but also summonses as well as like a slowdown really?</s>FUENTES: I think that's true. That there has been somewhat of a blue flu going on in terms of a protest largely against the mayor. So I think that, you know, that has to be addressed, but don't forget, some of the criticism of police officers have been especially in the Garner case, why are they making arrests like that for such minor violations? And I think the police officers can show you, look, bad things happen even in what are supposed to be minor, nonviolent-type arrests and maybe we ought to stop doing some of that and just show you that -- why take the risk of doing it.</s>FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely. You're seeing now Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. He is there. He has been really defending the mayor and he put out a memo, a very quick memo, basically saying that right now this is a time for -- for grieving, not for grievances, and he essentially warned the police officers not to turn their backs as they did at the first funeral. You can see him shaking hands there. He's very well respected. He was the mayor's choice to become police commissioner and clearly he was police commissioner already in New York but also he was out in Los Angeles, and I understand, Tom, that there's a Los Angeles contingent as well who have come to see and pay their final respects as well.</s>FUENTES: Yes. We've had contingents from all over the country, from Canada. So, you know, there's a large gathering from everywhere in this situation.</s>FEYERICK: All right. Tom Fuentes, thank you so much. Again, we're looking at a live picture of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton there to pay his respects to the Liu family. Now we're going to go to Sarah Ganim who is out there watching and monitoring the situation there in Brooklyn. Sara, what are you witnessing in terms of the police strength that's out there? It's a very different rainy day than it was a week ago for the first funeral of Rafael Ramos.</s>SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Good morning, Deb. We are seeing the streets are very quickly filling up with those who wanted to come here to mourn. You can see just over my shoulder how far and how many officers are lined up down the street. They're so far away they're nearly a mile away and that's because that's how far they need to start lining them up just to fit everyone in who wants to be here on the street to watch the ceremony on the jumbo screens to pay their respects to Officer Wenjian Liu. Just to give you an idea of how many officers are here, yesterday for the wake they were lined up a steady stream for nearly eight hours to go into the funeral home and pay their respects. JetBlue also flew in more than 1100 officers from out of town to be here today. They're standing here. They're lined up. They're going to watch the ceremony. I have seen badges from departments as far as San Diego, Cincinnati, Virginia, and I talked to three officers who are from New Orleans, the New Orleans area. They came in thanks to JetBlue, they flew in for free for the ceremony and they told me it's incredibly important to them to be here today.</s>CAPT. PATRICK YOES, ST. CHARLES PARISH, LOUISIANA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Law enforcement is a very interesting profession. Not too many people run towards danger, yet we do it every day and when we lose one we all feel it. And I think it's -- everyone of us, our responsibility to make sure that we never -- we never forget those individuals and pay the respects that are necessary.</s>GANIM: Deb, it's not just officers that are here. We also see members of the community and we're also seeing quite a bit of security. There are units patrolling rooftops. There are K-9 units. We've seen a few helicopters and nearly all the streets, all the avenues in this neighborhood are blocked off for this funeral so that they can properly and respectfully bury their fellow fallen soldier -- Deb.</s>FEYERICK: All right. Sara Ganim for us. Thanks so much. We'll check back with you just shortly as this funeral gets set to get under way.