The NYPD has added more than three dozen new names to its memorial honoring officers who died in the line of duty — with Mayor Eric Adams saying the fallen watered “the tree of freedom” with their blood.
The New York City Police Memorial on Liberty Street and South End Avenue in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan bears the name of city cops who have fallen since 1849.
On Tuesday, the NYPD unveiled the addition of 42 more who died between 2017 and 2023. All but two passed as a result of 9/11-related illnesses.
“Although we give honor to the men and women that we lost during Sept. 11, the real reflection I believe is on Sept. 12,” Adams told a crowd of about 300 gathered for a dedication ceremony. “We got up. And when we got up, the entire country got up.
“Today, we honor 42 individuals who sacrificed their lives to ensure that we will continue to get up,” he continued. “We, as a city, we sit under the tree of freedom because the 42 men and women watered that tree with their blood.
“This is the greatest country on the globe, and this is the greatest city on the globe because of their sacrifices.”
He specifically mentioned two NYPD detectives: Lawrence J. Bromm, who was shot during a 1977 investigation and remained paralyzed until his 2022 death, and Troy Patterson, who succumbed after spending three decades in a catatonic state following an ambush during a botched robbery in 1990.
“I think about Officer Bromm and Officer Patterson, whose injuries lasted for many years, and how it impacted their families as they had to endure the pain that was associated with that attack,” Hizzoner said.
“And although a bullet strikes the body of a person, it continues the emotional pathway through the anatomy of our community and the families in the cities,” Adams said.
Thomas Donlon, the city’s interim police commissioner, echoed the mayor’s comments and said every name on the wall represented a life of service — and much more.
“They were sons, daughters, fathers, mothers and wives,” Donlon said. “They came from different backgrounds, but they shared at least one thing in common: They all swore an oath to protect others when they first joined our NYPD family.
“We know that there is no memorial that could ease the pain of their loss,” the commish continued.
“Nothing will fill the void, but these brave men and women — our purpose today is to honor them. Today, we’re making sure that, for generations to come, people can hear their stories on this wall. And when we do that, our loved ones are never really forgotten.”
The huge green granite monument — which looks similar to Washington, DC’s famed Vietnam Veterans Memorial — was first dedicated Oct. 20, 1997, and includes water features designed to encourage contemplation, according to the Battery Park City Authority website.
It was last expanded two years ago to include the names of additional cops who died in the line of duty. There are now more than 1,000 listed, and they’re recorded chronically back to 1849.
Every year, the authority hosts a ceremony to honor those whose names grace the memorial and unveil new ones.
