Posted on 05/10/2014 11:40:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, made up of active and retired Southland law enforcement officers, practiced Friday for the upcoming funerals of two fallen officers.
CBS2’s Stacey Butler said the group might soon be asked to play at the funeral of the off-duty detective who was killed Friday when a cement truck crashed into his pickup truck in Beverly Hills.
“It just goes to the essence of what policing is about, taking care of your brother officers,” the band’s president, retired Los Angeles Officer Michael Apodaca, said.
Apodaca said 15 officers from Orange to Los Angeles County are on call, waiting to respond to what they call their duty—to play the bagpipes, if a law enforcement or military family requests them.
The band’s secretary, Cliff Armas, said preparing and playing for so many officers’ funerals is taking its toll.
The band recently played at the funeral of motorcycle officer Chris Cortijo, 51, who was struck last month by a driver who was allegedly under the influence.
“When you see these untimely deaths, when officers are taken before their time, it really hits home. And we understand that it’s very, very special for what we do in terms of paying tribute to them in the best way that we can,” Armas said.
The Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums played 120 funerals last year.
Amazing Grace on bagpipes.
If this cop was a military veteran, then he deserves full military honors. But if he wasn’t, I have a problem with the bagpipes and drums. I have a problem with full-blown military-style funerals (at taxpayer expense) bestowed on someone who is not a soldier.
They already had a giant stop-and-salute parade with hundreds of cops saluting the body as it was driven from point A to point B all over the evening news. Isn’t that just a little excessive for a guy who was killed in a car accident?
When an American soldier is laid to rest, an honor guard and taps is one of the most moving rites this country can and should provide. The same style trappings at a cop funeral — bagpipes, drums, salutes, processions, presenting the flag to the widow — are tasteless and maudlin perversions of military honors that only serve to falsely conflate military service with a civil service job.
Military honors should be reserved for military veterans. Cops are government job-holders, not soldiers. They’re entitled to the exact same level of respect as a DMV clerk, no more and no less.
It was unfortunate that the cop in this article died in a car accident. But let’s not kid ourselves — he didn’t die defending the freedom of the nation. Just have a regular funeral, cops. You’re embarrassing yourselves and alienating the people you work for, who have to pay for your delusions of SEAL Team 6 grandeur.
How about firefighters? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdtgj3kZV0o
Same objection applies.
“It just goes to the essence of what policing is about, taking care of your brother officers,”
That’s the essence of policing now? I have no problem with honors given at a funeral, and may he rest in peace. But something is seriously wrong if that statement is representative of the police force.
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