Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, right, enter the Christ Tabernacle Church for the Dec. 27, 2014, funeral of slain New York City Police Officer Rafael Ramos, one of two officers murdered while sitting in their patrol car in an ambush in Brooklyn last Saturday.(Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)
NEW YORK -- Vice President Joe Biden honored Rafael Ramos at the slain New York police officer's funeral Saturday.
He spoke of Ramos and his partner Officer Wenjian Liu, who were shot and killed Dec. 20, ambushed as they sat in their squad car.
"Being a cop was not what they did, it was who they were," Biden said.
Motioning to the sea of blue police seated in the church where the funeral was being held, Biden said, "It's who you are."
"You all joined for essentially the same reason. There was something about you that made you think that you could help. That you had a duty." That duty, Biden said, was to the rule of law.
The sentiment was echoed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"We are a nation of laws. We are a state of laws. We are a city of laws," he said.
Speaking to the officers in the room, he said, "You represent those laws. No one, no group is above the law. The threats against New York's police are an insult to law-abiding New Yorkers and they will not be tolerated."
Ramos started out as a school safety officer but had a dream of becoming a police officer, said New York City mayor Bill de Blasio. "He couldn't wait to put on that uniform. He believed in protecting others," he said.
Jaden Ramos, center, arrives at the funeral for his father, slain NYPD officer Rafael Ramos at the Christ Tabernacle Church on Dec. 27, 2014.(Photo: Kevin Hagen, Getty Images)
"Those that are called to protect others are a special breed," he said.
Then, speaking in Spanish, de Blasio told the Ramos family and New York that he "was one of your best sons. ... He was a man of much faith and a brave police officer."
A recurring theme at the funeral was the divisiveness caused by the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner on Staten Island, and how the nation must overcome it.
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," Biden told the mourners.
While some in the nation might "fear diversity, we celebrate it," Cuomo said. "Yes, we have questions" arising out of recent cases, but with study and reflection those can be overcome, he said.
Outside the church, police helicopters circled overhead as thousands of uniformed officers thronged the Glendale Queens neighborhood to show their respects toRamos.
San Bernardino, Calif., County Deputy sheriff Matt McAllister had arrived on a red-eye flight from Long Beach courtesy of Jet Blue.
"We're here to support our brothers and sisters in the NYPD," he said. "We are a brotherhood."
The officers streamed in from around the region and across the country. Many were in their dress blues, with commendation medals on their jackets, wearing white gloves.
A huge Christmas wreath with shiny ornaments hung over the entrance to Christ Tabernacle Church, in a repurposed brick building on Myrtle Avenue. The street was closed to traffic.
An organist played Silent Night in the bright morning sun on an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in late December
Vice President Joe Biden and an estimated 25,000 police officers are here to pay their respects to Ramos at the Queens church.
On Friday, an overflow crowd of police, family, friends and dignitaries had packed the church for an eight-hour wake. Six police officers carried Ramos' flag-draped casket into the church as other cops saluted and stood at attention outside the entrance.
By early evening, hundreds of additional mourners had filled the streets outside to hear speakers eulogize Ramos and watch the memorial on giant video screens. Joining Ramos' wife, Maritza, and two teenage sons, Justin and Jaden, were Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner William Bratton and Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
"What happened to my father was a tragedy but his death will not be in vain," said Justin Ramos, a student at Bowdoin College in Maine. "My dad was a hero. He touched so many lives and will continue to do so."
He said his father was his "rock" and his "absolute best friend."
Ramos' sister, Cindy, wept as she expressed her love for her brother.
"Even though I didn't say it as much as I should, I love you from the deepest depths of my soul," she said. "My brother, my heart aches so much right now, please pray for me as I know you always did. Help me understand why God took you from me so soon."
Pastor Ralph Castillo said Ramos was a beloved member of the church.
"Whether he was helping a mom with a carriage or bringing someone to their seats, he did it with so much love and so much vigor and so much joy," Castillo said.
Ramos, who was 40, served as an usher at Christ Tabernacle and was part of the church's marriage and life group ministries.
Funeral plans for Liu are pending until family members can make arrangements to travel from their home in China.
Ramos and Liu were killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had posted messages on social media about his intent to target police officers and, after gunning down the pair, killed himself in a subway station.
The site where the police officers were shot on Brooklyn's Myrtle Avenue has been transformed into a shrine for the fallen men. Piles of bouquets, Christmas wreaths, teddy bears and candles mark the spot.
It has drawn fellow police officers, family, friends, ministers and ordinary New Yorkers for prayer and reflection.
Wilson also reports for The Journal News in Westchester County, NY.
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