Jamaica Rotary honors extraordinary cops

At its monthly meeting at Villa Russo in Ozone Park, the Jamaica Rotary honored “Cop of the Month”?from the 102nd, 103rd, 106th and 113th Precincts. In addition to the Commanding Officers, Chief Dale, Patrol Borough Queens South, or a representative, is always in attendance.
Joseph Iaboni (standing, center), said the honors are a memorial for Police Officer Edward Byrne, a rookie officer who was killed in the line of duty on February 26, 1988. Byrne was shot several times in the head and died instantly as he sat in his police car while on assignment protecting a drug case witness at 107th Avenue and Inwood Street in South Jamaica. The cold-blooded killing, which was apparently a plot to intimidate witnesses from testifying against drug dealers, shocked the consciousness of the city.
A year after the murder, four men were convicted and sentenced to the maximum sentences of 25 years to life for the crime. Byrne was single, 22, and living in Massapequa, Long Island, at the time he was murdered. He had joined the police force the previous July, and worked at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica.