NYC Leaders Pay Tribute to Officer Wilbert Mora

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Right now at St. Patrick's Cathedral, hundreds of mourners are gathered to honor the life of NYPD officer Wilbert Mora, who of course was shot late last month along with his partner detective Jason Rivera while responding to a domestic disturbance call in Harlem. Wilbert Mora who's gotten a lot less attention than Jason Rivera, probably because Rivera died first and there was still hope that Mora would survive his wounds but he didn't. His life hasn't gotten as much attention.

We're going to give it a little bit right now and we're going to listen to some of the eulogy excerpts that also raised policy issues for Mayor Adams and from police commissioner Sewell. Wilbert Mora was 27. He was the youngest child in a Dominican family, so these were both Dominican officers who got killed. They settled in Brooklyn, his family, and later in East Harlem after arriving in the United States, according to a bio resigned PIX11 News. He joined the NYPD in 2018 the same year he graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan with a bachelor's degree per The New York Times.

At John Jay, Mora showed a deep interest in the way predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods in New York City like East Harlem should be policed. Again, very similar to Jason Rivera in that he wanted to join the NYPD to do both things: to protect the public from civilian bad guys and also to help reform the police department from within to reform its excesses. One of his former professors remembered Mora as a curious and passionate student who made class discussions richer. What we're going to do now is play a five-minute excerpt of the eulogy for Wilbert Mora the Mayor Eric Adams gave just a short time ago, earlier this hour. Here's Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: This morning, we gathered to mourn a life of Wilbert Mora; a brother officer and brother citizen. We reflect on his bravery. We remember his sacrifice. We bend our heads in solemn prayer, hear us Lord and protect us. Last night, we were reminded again about the danger and over-proliferation of guns that are carving highways of death. Even when the bullet hits the body of our citizens, the emotional trauma continues to rip the anatomy of our city and the pathway never ends for generations to come.

An off-duty officer was shot and wounded on his way to work. The work of protecting New York is defending our city. The work officer Mora was doing when he was killed in the line of duty. Those of us who have put on the uniform know what happened to Officer Mora could happen to us any day. I always reflect, my brothers and sisters in the police department, upon the day of my retirement, walking down and feeling the weight of my mother as she just collapsed in my arms. I realize that she did every tour with me every night, every radio run.

You wear the blue uniforms, but your families feel it every day just as officers Mora and Rivera family feel it today. It is why we are bound by our oath and our honor to stand together salute his service as we commend his spirit. Let's pray for officer Mora and for his family and friends. Their pain is our pain. Officer Mora was not only a dedicated public servant but an exceptional young man, beloved by his family, the youngest of four children. Someone once stated to me that it is unnatural to lose a child. There's nothing in our English language that is associated with the loss of the child.

If you lose a spouse, you're a widow or widower, if you lose a parent, you're an orphan, but we do not have anything in our English language that defines the pain and the unnatural existence of losing a child. To his mother Amelia, we pray for you. We lift you up in the support that you need and to his dad [unintelligible 00:05:51], we know how intense the pain will be, and will intensify every holiday, every birthday, every sound of your son. I thank you for sharing your son with our city and you must know we share your grief and feel your sorrow.

To Wilbert's sister, Karina, and brothers Wilson and Jonathan, the challenges of losing a baby brother, we are your family now. We will comfort you and embrace you and stand with you in the difficult days to come. To the 32nd Precinct, his second family, I watched you tonight at the hospital, saw how you embrace each other, and I heard you say over and over again, "We tried, we tried." Yes, you do try every day and you succeed. You need each other more now than ever as you overcome this painful moment. Today, we say goodbye to Wilbert, but we also thank him. The city thanks you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Mayor Eric Adams earlier this hour at the funeral of police officer Wilbert Mora. Mora may have grown up in East Harlem but he's being eulogized today at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the midst of the skyscrapers of Midtown. Here's more from the funeral. This is Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who in a way picks up where the mayor left off.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell: Even among the city's skyscrapers, scaffolding, and buildings, at 6'3", police officer Wilbert Mora was still a giant. His mother called him King Kong and her strapping big boy. With his family, at an early age, like the fabled character, he too found his way to the Empire State. Today, we find ourselves here, where no one should ever for be for the reasons that we are. An ocean of officers should not have to line streets for the second time in five days to grieve the appalling loss of a 27-year-old son and brother.

Gathered in and around a place that so grandly represents the enormity of faith. The term faith is not just for the religious, it is weaved into everything we do. We just may call it something else. Police officer Wilbert Mora's family trusted that he, a beloved young man they sent off to serve the city, would return home to them. He always did. His colleagues in the 32 Precinct had the expectation that he would work with them another day. He never failed to do so in the past. He absolutely loved this job. With a kind, gentle soul and an infectious laugh, he cared deeply about his family and truly valued his friends. An army of them stood vigil in the silent halls of Harlem Hospital, never once leaving his side. They hoped he'd come back because he always wanted to give back. Born in the Dominican Republic, Wilbert and his family came to this country for an opportunity, safety and security, and the better life that so many in this city work for and deserve every day. Attending John Jay College set him on the course for publicservice.

He then volunteered to make our city safe. He was convinced he could do just that. Wilbert was the perfect candidate to join the NYPD. No one had to tell him to become a police officer. It was all he ever wanted to do. It was the most loved, significant, inextricable part of his life. I'm told the only close second was his PlayStation 5. The threatening forces he'd face on the screen were nothing like the malevolence that would take Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera from our lives. With his combination of strength and compassion, Wilbert served this department bravely, honorably as a colossal symbol of promise, not for the size of his frame, but for the goodness in his heart.

He was a true leader, a proud member of the NYPD Cadet Corps, an outstanding police recruit, an exceptional officer, and the first generation of his family to join a profession that asked courageous men and women to leave their own families every day to protect and help someone else's just as Wilbert and Jason did when they gave their lives in service of this city. They have my deepest respect and New York's immeasurable gratitude. It is my honor and privilege today to promote Wilbert Mora to Detective First Grade.

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Brian Lehrer: Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell at the funeral of police officer Wilbert Mora, just moments ago, ending there with the same thing that she did for a police officer, Jason Rivera last week at his funeral posthumously promoting him to Detective First Grade. One of the things that she had previously said about Wilbert Mora was that he was three times a hero for choosing a life of service, for sacrificing his life to protect others, for giving life, even in death, through organ donation. That's another thing that's gotten some attention about Wilbert Mora. He was an organ donor. In death, he will be helping to save the lives of others who are still alive. Joining me now is WNYC Public Safety correspondent, Matt Katz. Hi, Matt. Thanks for coming on with us today.

Matt Katz: Hi, Brian. Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: We played some excerpts from the commissioner and the mayor's remarks at the funeral. The portions that we had were all focused on the life of Wilbert Mora and the family members who he leaves behind. In the funeral for Jason Rivera last week, which happened at a time during the show that we were able to take it live, they also got into policy issues. I wonder if they did that today as well in portions that we didn't hear.

Matt Katz: So far, and this mass is ongoing, we have not heard from the relatives. The relatives in Rivera's funeral had brought up some police reform. Otherwise, there has not been politics. Notably, the chief of the police union, Pat Lynch, who was a flame thrower, as you know, did not mention anything that could be construed as political. Mayor Adams did describe a war against gun toning criminals and so there was that. Then there was a reference from a police officer whose name I don't know who spoke briefly.

He referred to restrictions being placed on police without going into anything further, but no, no politics. I wanted to add something, a little bit of clarification. In the beginning of mayor Adam's remarks, he referenced another shooting and I just wanted to update listeners on that. There was another off-duty officer who was shot in the Rockaways last night. Adams was actually at a press conference like 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning this morning talking about that. It was an attempted carjacking, the officer is in stable condition.

Then, the officers who responded to the scene were allegedly shot at, they did not return fire, and then made an arrest. Even in the wake of this funeral, there was police shootings and Adam come to personify that as both an officer who can understand the grief of the family and as somebody who ran on a law and order message. There were by my account six officers in the NYPD have been shot so far this year with two killed. Seven were shot in all of last year and seven were shot in all of 2020. Really just remarkable January here in the city.

Brian Lehrer: I wonder if you have any advanced word on what's going to happen tomorrow here in New York when President Biden comes to town. This is a big deal, certainly for Eric Adams and potentially for the city and maybe even for president Biden as he, in a political context, tries to help the Democrats hold Congress in this election year. The President of the United States coming tomorrow to New York City to meet with our new mayor to talk about the issue of gun violence in particular, right?

Matt Katz: That's right. He's reportedly going to be visiting One Police Plaza. The first time a president has been there, I read since 2011 when Obama visited to thank the police department for their efforts in the war on terrorism. This will be an interesting visit. Adams released his public safety plan a week or two ago and part of that dealt with federal measures that he wants to see enacted. That's what we believe is going to be talked about tomorrow when the president is here. We're talking about a ban on assault weapons and legislation that would make gun trafficking a crime, increased penalties for the illegal purchase of guns.

The weapon that was used in the shooting deaths of these two officers was apparently stolen from Baltimore. Moving illegal weapons throughout the country is an issue. From a legislative standpoint, from a political standpoint, it is hard to imagine even when you have two major political officials together in the biggest city in the country talking about this stuff, it's hard to imagine that gun legislation moves even in the wake of these tragedies. I imagine that's what they're going to be talking about tomorrow.

Brian Lehrer: What does support for the NYPD look like from the mayor and from the new commissioner, who by the way, and let me digress from my own question to say Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has shown herself to be quite a public speaker in these two eulogies. She is a presence. I don't know how many people are watching or listening to these funerals. It's at ten or eleven o'clock in the morning on weekdays, but I presume as she makes more public appearances, just based on what I've seen at these two funerals, she's going to be a force in this city.

Matt Katz: Yes, there's no question about it. You feel a shift in terms of the relationship between the political world and the NYPD. You have Adam's election. Obviously, we know he ran on law and order and his effectiveness so far at consoling mourning New Yorkers over a series of tragic incidents. Not just these police shootings, also killing of an 11-month-old baby, the young woman who was working at Burger King. There's this perception that crime is worse, even if it's pretty good historically, but there's a perception and he has tapped into that. He is showing up at scenes of crimes. He's going to the hospitals when police officers are shot. Just visually, there is a different face of law enforcement.

You have a Black mayor who was a cop obviously, you have a Black female commissioner, and then these two officers who died in the line of duty, two Dominican American officers. One who was a first-generation immigrant, the other who was born in the Dominican Republic. Some of the top messengers when it comes to pushing back against any efforts at police reform, we've seen in the last couple of years are now people of color. It will be interesting how that rhetorically affects the debate. Like you said, the commissioner, I was also watching on YouTube and totally struck by the way she delivered the remarks in addition to the content of them.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think the anger, if that's the right word, that we heard a little bit from the police commission, certainly in the previous funeral and to some degree, today riles up the force in a particular way? Of course, we always hear that anger from the union chief Pat Lynch, but I'm looking at a New York Post article from yesterday, from the scene of the wake yesterday at St. Patrick's in advance of today's funeral. The headline was they're angry. NYPD chief Kenneth Corey rails outside wake for fallen cop Wilbert Mora. He said they're angry talking about the members of the NYPD. Well, as much as we honor the sacrifice and mourn for the loss of the lives  of these two police officers who were shot without warning when they were just trying to help a mother who called them for help. It can be a scary prospect for many New Yorkers and many communities to think that the police are patrolling angry with their guns in their power.

Matt Katz: My experience tells me that union officials and tabloid headlines will be a lot angrier than the average people who are maybe part of that union or are reading those stories or what those stories are about. I strongly think there's a widespread sense among the NYPD that the political establishment has disrespected them when it comes to certain police reforms or the way they've been portrayed on social media by elected officials. I am sure there's widespread anger about that, but I do think it is the job of union officials to be the face of that anger and as angry as possible and it is the job of the New York boss to put that anger in headlines.

I will say, and we talked about how officers have been shot at a much higher rate so far this year, the city, as you well know, Brian, is much safer than it was 30 years ago. There has been a major uptick in shootings in 2020 and 2021, but there were 488 homicides last year. There were 2,262 in 1990. I was looking at numbers in Philadelphia, less than a quarter the size of New York, and still had more killings last year than New York City did. We should keep this in context when we talk about the anger that some officers might have about the efforts to reign in some of their power.

Brian Lehrer: I was seeing some recording earlier this morning on the major crime stats for New York City. Just for the month of January, just since Eric Adams with his incoming attitude, however you want to characterize that, and his new police commissioner, despite all of the new things that they bring, the criminals have not been dissuaded in many respects.

Actually, homicide from the stats that I saw are slightly down compared to January of last year, but shootings, again, compared to January of last year were up 14%, 38% in what they call major crimes, up 38% higher overall, 27% increase in rapes reported, 38% increase in assaults reported, 40% increase in car theft. Have you seen the same reporting on stats for the month of January and make anything of it?

Matt Katz: Yes, I did see that. I think the shootings number, that's something that we have a longer look at and can look at since the pandemic, really. That is the most problematic and scariest, obviously. This is the heart of Adams' public safety plan that he unveiled about a week and a half ago. Any day now, we're going to see new officers patrolling 30 Precincts where 80% of the violence occurs. That's his plan. This is a plainclothes police unit. This is, obviously, quite controversial, but this is what he says is going to be the way that we stop this recent uptick in shootings.

Brian Lehrer: In this occasion of the funeral of Officer Wilbert Mora, we thank WNYC Public Safety reporter, Matt Katz. Matt, thanks a lot.

Matt Katz: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

 

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