Officers make their way inside Pinnacle Bank Arena after saluting the motorcade during a funeral ceremony for fallen Lincoln officer Mario Herrera on Saturday.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
The motorcade carrying fallen officer Mario Herrera is met by officers from other counties and states at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
A sheriffs deputy from Iowa wears black tape over his badge with No. 1205 in honor of fallen Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera, whose funeral was held Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
Officers make their way inside Pinnacle Bank Arena for Mario Herrera's funereal service Saturday morning.
Seemingly every police agency and sheriff's office in Nebraska, joined by state troopers from Iowa, police from Wyoming, sheriff's deputies from Missouri and officers from elsewhere in the region stood shoulder to shoulder along Arena Drive.
Stoically and at attention, they saluted as the funeral procession for Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera reached Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday morning.
They donned dress and patrol uniforms alike, shades of blue, brown and even green.
"Even though we wear different uniforms and work in different areas, we're all doing the same work," said Cheyenne Police Sgt. Adam DeBall, who represented the Wyoming department along with Sgt. Matt Solberg on Saturday.
DeBall and other officers described their participation as a necessary, simple gesture of solidarity for their profession and a show of respect for and unity behind the ultimate sacrifice made by Herrera.
Herrera was the first Nebraska officer killed in the line of duty in 2020 and the 193rd fallen officer in the U.S. this year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Of the 177 men and 16 women who died in the line of duty, 34 officers were killed by gunfire.
Herrera's death marked the first line-of-duty death for a Lincoln police officer since 1968.
In a statement, Lincoln Police Department spokeswoman Officer Erin Spilker said the department's officers felt deeply grateful for the support of people who came out Saturday.Â
The number of law enforcement agencies represented was humbling, she said.
"While our department continues to grieve, today we were held up by our law enforcement family," Spilker said. "When a call goes out, law enforcement answers that call. Today was no exception."
University Police, Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies and Nebraska State Patrol troopers helped to cover police calls within the city so Lincoln officers could attend the funeral.
And members of the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office turned out Saturday to honor Herrera even as they grieved the unexpected death of fellow Deputy Troy Bailey on Friday following a heart attack.
In a video recording, Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemiester, who is in isolation after contracting COVID-19, encouraged law enforcement officers to take a pause to grieve Saturday as they remembered Herrera.Â
Police work often demands officers suppress their personal feelings as they attend to crime victims or seek to bring order amid chaos, the chief said.
"It is my hope that all of us lower our emotional guard, even if only for a short time, in order to truly feel and process the grief, confusion, anger and sorrow that are spinning inside each of us," Bliemeister said.
Deputies Lawlor Christiansen and Kaleb Chance from the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office in Missouri volunteered to attend Herrera's funeral. Their department sends deputies to about a dozen law enforcement funerals a year.
Christiansen, a Nebraska native, didn't know Herrera personally, but a relative knew him, she said.Â
Chance said he often gets asked why there isn't the same level of pomp and circumstance for the deaths of nurses, for example.
He doesn't know, but the camaraderie and close-knit relationships formed in police work set it apart, he said.
"You form a bond," Chance said.
This year the coronavirus has caused the largest number of line-of-duty police deaths, killing 105 officers nationwide, according to the memorial page.Â
Aside from their continued exposure to COVID-19, officers have come under the national microscope this summer with protests over police brutality.
"Especially today, it takes a lot of courage to bear the weight of that badge," Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said in a remarks during Herrera's funeral.
No matter the messages in the media, Nebraskans support their police officers, troopers and deputy sheriffs, the governor said.
Ricketts called on funeral attendees to defend the service of law enforcement every time they are denigrated, because officers sacrifice every day to protect their communities from the evil of the world.
Retired New York City Police Detective Patrick Kelly, who now lives in Lancaster County and works for the Nebraska athletic department, said officers don't do this work for the pay or notoriety.
He came out in his dress uniform to pay tribute to Herrera's life, he said, which shows the level of risk police take on every shift.
Nineteen years ago, he and other NYPD officers found themselves working in the aftermath of the tragedy of 9/11, a day 23 New York City Police Department officers were killed.
Officers make their way inside Pinnacle Bank Arena after saluting the motorcade during a funeral ceremony for fallen Lincoln officer Mario Herrera on Saturday.
A sheriffs deputy from Iowa wears black tape over his badge with No. 1205 in honor of fallen Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera, whose funeral was held Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.