Santa Barbara Police In New York To Attend Fallen Officer’s Funeral

Two officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department are in New York City for fallen officer Wenjian Liu.

Officer Gren Hons and Detective Brian Larsen made the pilgrimage to New York City along with thousands of other officers to attend Liu’s funeral in Brooklyn.

“When we got there, there were already 20 to 25 thousand officers around the funeral home,” said Hons.

Liu and his partner Rafael Ramos were shot execution style on Dec. 20.

Hons said officers from all over the world came to show their support.

“We ran into officers from Canada, from England, and Scotland. It was an impressive contingent,” said Hons.

“They look at our Santa Barbara police patch and they’re like man, thank you so much for coming all the way from California to support us,” Hons said.

Hons said it was impressive to look around at the sea of blue surrounding their fallen comrade.

“You heard a lot of talk about that today, about how people wanted to come here to show their support for New York police. But also to show everybody around the world that we care about each other and do the best we can to make sure that all our brothers and sisters go home safe at the end of every shift,” Hons said.

Jet Blue Airlines covered the cost of airfare for both officers. The department covered other expenses.

Hons and Larsen plan to attend the 9/11 Memorial Museum on Monday before heading home.