Family, friends, colleagues attend somber ceremony in Yaphank honoring Suffolk County's fallen officers

In a somber ceremony Friday morning, more than 100 people gathered at Suffolk County Police headquarters in Yaphank to pay their respects to the department's officers who have died in the line of duty.

Families, fellow officers, elected officials and other dignitaries attended the annual memorial service for the 30 Suffolk police officers who died on the job since the department's founding in January 1960.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said at the service that it is important “to not only remember those who died in their service to this county, but their families ... as well as this department, in saying, ‘We will not forget their service and their dedication.’”

The first recorded county police officer to die in the line of duty was John J. Nolan, who died April 17, 1960, of a heart attack after he apprehended a burglary suspect at a closed restaurant in Central Islip while he was working a midnight tour, according to the department. He was 29.

In an emotional address, Louis Civello, the president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association and a 26-year department veteran, honored the officers who died but also criticized the New York State Board of Parole for freeing people convicted of killing police officers.

“Forty-four cop killers released in this state because of the feckless cowards on the parole board. I’d ask you to look these families in the eye, but you are not worthy to stand in their presence,” Civello said. “So instead … look at the memorial, read the names of these brave heroes who sacrificed so much.”

Patricia Mullen, the widow of a fallen officer and the president of the Metro New York Chapter of Concerns Of Police Survivors, which offers support to surviving families and co-workers affected by line-of-duty deaths, helped lay a wreath as a tribute to the fallen officers. 

Mullen is the widow of Det. Stephen J. Mullen, an officer with the Suffolk County Police’s First Precinct in Babylon who mentored officers and new detectives. Mullen was 55 when he died in December 2018 of cancer brought about from his work at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks. His two sons followed in their father’s footsteps and joined law enforcement.

“He never considered it a job, he considered it a calling in his career,” Patricia Mullen, speaking after the ceremony, said of her late husband. She recalled him as a detail-oriented, loving family man dedicated to his job, and who loved working in his yard, camping with family, riding his bicycle supporting the Wounded Warrior Project, and date nights with his wife. “He’s just missed all around," she said. "He was a great, great man.”