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NJ police to cover Jersey City shifts for ’24 hours to mourn’

Departments across Hudson County are taking shifts the day of Det. Joseph Seals’ funeral

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Officers from departments across Hudson County are picking up shifts so Jersey City police officers can mourn Det. Joseph Seals’ death.

Photo/TNS

Ron Zeitlinger
N.J. Advance Media Group

JERSEY CITY — Scores of police officers from across Hudson County will be patrolling the streets of Jersey City Tuesday, giving members of the Jersey City Police Department “24 hours to mourn” on the day Detective Joseph Seals is laid to rest.

Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante said his department will gladly have 24 officers manning Jersey City’s East District, starting at 11 p.m. Monday. He said eight would be working the midnight shift, six on the day shift and six more on the night shift, with one sergeant on each shift and a lieutenant working a 16-hour shift.

“We didn’t have to force anyone,” Ferrante said. “All 24 jumped at the opportunity to show their support.”

Seals, a decorated 13-year veteran of the JCPD, was shot dead Tuesday by David Anderson and Francene Graham, who went on to kill three people at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City. Anderson and Graham were killed by police, ending a gunfight that lasted more than three hours.

Seals’ funeral Mass is 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The effort to cover all the Jersey City precincts is being coordinated by Bayonne Police Chief Robert Geisler, the president of the Hudson County Chiefs of Police Association. Bayonne will cover Jersey City’s South District, while Union City will man the North District and North Bergen will cover the West District.

A tweet from the North Bergen Police Department said 18 of its officers had volunteered to work the midnight shift in Jersey City’s West District. West New York is sending 14 officers to Jersey City for the daytime shift.

“We put out an email to volunteer to work and we picked the 18 with the most experience,” North Bergen Police Chief Robert Dowd said. “I’m incredibly proud of the courage and sense of duty of the department.”

Dowd said the law enforcement community in Hudson County is an extremely close-knit group and that departments “cooperate and communicate like never before.”

Union City is sending 24 police officers.

“My heart breaks for the family of Detective Joseph Seals and for the city of Jersey City,” Union City Mayor Brian Stack said. “The loss extends beyond the boundaries of Jersey City and Hudson County and can be felt all over the country. Union City will stand with the family of Detective Seals and will grieve with them over this tragedy. He made the ultimate sacrifice and I will continue to keep his family in my prayers.”

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