It doesn't matter which badge they wear: NYPD,
Transit Police, Housing Police. They take an oath to protect the public, and then
they go out into the streets and the subways and the housing projects and fulfill
it. And put their lives on the line. Every day. And the list of those
who lose their lives grows even longer.
Add one more name to the list. Anthony
McLean, Age 27. A member of the Housing Police. A cop who was just
doing his job. Searching for a little girl who had been reported missing. In
the course of that search, Officer McLean surprised a group of young men in a
stairwell. The suspicion is they were dealing drugs. They didn't know what
McLean was doing there. They didn't care. They saw a badge, a uniform, a
gun. And one of them pulled a gun and fired. The bullet hit McLean an inch
above his bulletproof vest. And now McLean's family and McLean's fiancé, who had
been awaiting a wedding in May, are awaiting a funeral.
I'll be a hero's funeral. With the flags
lowered and the drums muffled and the long ranks of men and women in blue saluting yet
another coffin. And wondering who they will be saluting the next time. Or if,
the next time, someone will be saluting them. Tragically, there will be a next
time. In this drug-ridden city, crime-ridden city, it's inevitable.
Remember that, New York. Remember Anthony
McLean. And all the other cops out there, who risk their lives every time they pin
on a badge. Who risk their lives for you.
REQUIEM