SEAFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- Thousands of police officers from around the country converged under heavy security Friday for the funeral of a New York City police officer who was killed on patrol, showing solidarity at a time when police face deep scrutiny.

The family of New York City police officer Brian Moore, right, watch as his casket is carried into the St. James Roman Catholic church for his funeral mass in Seaford, NY
The family of New York City police officer Brian Moore, right, watch as his casket is carried into the St. James Roman Catholic church for his funeral mass in Seaford, NY (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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Busloads of officers arrived from as far as California, Louisiana, and Chicago to line the streets on Long Island outside Officer Brian Moore's funeral. Snipers watched from the roof of a nearby elementary school and stood atop a police van while a hearse carried Moore's body from a funeral home to the Roman Catholic church. A police helicopter hovered in the three-mile no-fly zone authorities imposed overhead.

"Brian's death comes at a time of great challenge," New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said, praising Moore while exhorting the public to respect police. "We are increasingly bearing the brunt of loud criticism. We cannot be defined by that criticism."

Detective Omar Daza-Quiroz, 33, traveled to the funeral from Oakland, California, to stand with his colleagues - and stand for law enforcement.

"Right now, it's a tough time in law enforcement," he said. "Sometimes people forget we are human and that we have lives."

A couple of police officers embrace as they arrive for the funeral mass of New York City police officer Brian Moore at the St. James Roman Catholic church in Seaford, N.Y.
A couple of police officers embrace as they arrive for the funeral mass of New York City police officer Brian Moore at the St. James Roman Catholic church in Seaford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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The 25-year-old died Moore Monday, two days after he was shot in Queens. He and his partner were in street clothes in an unmarked car and were stopping a man suspected of carrying a handgun when the suspect shot him in the head.

"Brian Moore represented the best of New York City," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

He was the son, nephew and cousin of NYPD officers, and two other cousins serve on Long Island. Moore was so determined to them that he took the police entrance exam at 17 and "devoted his whole being to the job."

After having to take a few weeks off for medical leave recently, Moore "counted the minutes" until he could return to work, and made a gun arrest his second day back - only a few days before he himself was shot, de Blasio said.

Moore's death came amid a national debate about policing, race and deadly force following the recent killings of unarmed black men by officers in New York; Ferguson, Missouri; North Charleston, South Carolina, and elsewhere.

Toms River Police pay their respects to fallen NYPD officer Brian Moore
Toms River Police pay their respects to fallen NYPD officer Brian Moore (Toms River Police)
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And only five months have passed since two other New York City police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were killed in their patrol car, ambushed by a man who had posted online about killing police in revenge for the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island.

"Once more, we find ourselves together in mourning. It is too soon, much too soon," Bratton said.

Liu's relatives were among the mourners Friday.

At Ramos' and Liu's funerals, hundreds of officers turned their backs to the mayor in a searing sign of disrespect. Police union leaders had said de Blasio had helped foster an anti-NYPD sentiment by allowing protesters to march through the city's streets after a grand jury decided not to indict an officer in Garner's death.

An uneasy truce between de Blasio and the police eventually settled in after some police union infighting, a public backlash to a NYPD job slowdown and a series of City Hall investments in the police department. There has been no similar sign of tensions in the wake of Moore's death, and no backs were turned on de Blasio Friday.

De Blasio's "words are measured and careful to know that there's support, and that's important," said Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who once said de Blasio had "blood on his hands" after Liu's and Ramos' deaths.

Moore had been on the force for only a handful of years, but he had already built up a record of more than 150 arrests and had earned meritorious service medals.

The young officer "was the man who walked in the room and made you laugh," he said, but on the street, "he was serious about his work."

The suspect in Moore's killing, Demetrius Blackwell, faces charges including murder, attempted murder and other crimes. He is being held without bail and has not entered a plea. His attorney has denied the charges.

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