Members of the New York City Police Department are in Paris today to attend memorial and funeral services honoring three French police officers killed there in last week’s terror attacks.

“When two New York City Police Officers were assassinated in December, police, in uniform, representing countries as far as Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand stood with us in formation,” NYPD Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said. “The NYPD stands in Paris today at attention. When you kill a police officer anywhere in the free world, a little bit of society dies with them.”

The officers killed in the attacks were honored by French President François Hollande at Tuesday’s ceremony inside a large square at the Prefecture de Police that was attended by hundreds of police officers, members of the clergy and the families of those who were killed.

Three caskets each draped in France’s red, white and blue flag were carried into the courtyard at police headquarters to the sound of a single drum, and placed on three podiums. The officers were posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur, the highest decoration in France.

The Paris attacks began at the offices of the weekly satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” and ended in two hostage standoffs, leaving 17 people dead over three days. A national ceremony for all victims of the attacks is planned there next week.

The NYPD delegation on Tuesday delivered a letter of condolence from Police Commissioner Bratton to the French National Police. The officers paid their respects to all the victims of the attacks at a flower memorial near the location of the shootings. NYPD Intelligence officers also will meet with French law enforcement officials to continue the exchange of information regarding the departments’ collaborative counterterrorism efforts.

The delegation includes members of the NYPD’s Intelligence, Patrol Services, Transit, and Community Affairs Bureaus, and the Ceremonial Unit.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)