Police Officer Eric Joering

Police Officer Eric Joering
Westerville Division of Police, Ohio
End of Watch: February 10, 2018 BFTF Representatives That Attended Funeral: Tiffany Lubold PO 260 Southampton Village PD Edward Fitzgerald D/Sgt 564 Retired
James Gruenfelder LT 1VP SOA & BFTF Board Member
The following was shared with us by Jim: I had the absolute honor to travel to Westerville Ohio to represent the Brotherhood For The Fallen. I am very proud to be on the BFTF Board and this was my first deployment. I was joined by veteran BFTF representative, retired D/Sgt. Ed Fitzgerald and a new member who was also on her first deployment, Southampton Police Officer Tiffany Lubold. We were treated exceptionally well by the Columbus PD Officers and the Franklin County Deputy Sheriffs of FOP Lodge #9 Capital City, who provided meals throughout the days of the deployment. We were able to connect with the BFTF Chapters from Fort Worth, Dallas, Chicago, Aurora, and the NYPD. I had the pleasure of speaking to a young officer from a small department of 8 officers in northern Ohio. I was amazed to learn that his pay was $8.50 an hour. Minimum wage. His scheduled raise to $9.00 was denied by the municipality as too excessive. He works three jobs. It should remind us of how good we have it here in Suffolk County that we can provide for our families. We attended the funeral and arrived early so that we were able to meet officers from all over the country and some from not so far, as the Long Beach PD sent a 4-member contingent. The funeral service was quite moving and all of the speakers were outstanding. We were also very honored to meet privately with the families of the fallen: Officers Morelli and Joering, to present them some gifts and the donation from the BFTF along with a presentation by the Fort Worth chapter. The procession that followed the services lasted well over an hour for the vehicles to actually all leave the church area. We watched it live streamed from the parking lot. We were told it was well over 2000 vehicles. The fellowship after the services were completed was well attended and the Morelli and Joering families came afterwards as well. The next morning while eating breakfast with Fitz at waffle House. I was wearing a windbreaker that a member of the Columbus Police Department gave me bearing their FOP Lodge. A gentleman, who was the school swim coach of the town where the cops were killed, and two teenage boys started talking to us and thanked us for our service. They were amazed that we came from New York. After we chatted everyone had breakfast and they said goodbye, we shook hands and they left before we did. After they were gone the waitress informed us that they paid for our breakfast. It was a surprise and a very nice feeling. Unfortunately, there will be more BFTF deployments in our future. I will definitely try to represent again. I recommend everyone make an attempt to try to go on a deployment as a member of the BFTF. Special thanks to Travel Secretaries Neil Stringer and Chris Erickson for all of the hard work setting up all of the travel and lodging arrangements. Everything went flawlessly, despite all of the backseat driving! Thank you Tiffany, Ed and Jim for representing us so well. We are proud to have you as members of the Brotherhood For The Fallen, Suffolk County, NY.