OAKLAND, CA (April 3, 2009) – An Oakland police captain who attends First Covenant Church organized last Friday’s funeral for four slain police officers. Several staff and other congregation members helped lead worship.
The funerals were for Sgt. Mark Dunakin, Officer John Hege, Sgt. Ervin Romans and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, who were shot to death March 21 by a wanted parolee during a traffic stop and a later shootout.
The chief of police asked Capt. John Figueroa to organize the funeral. “Since I made contact with some of the families the same evening of the incident, it was a natural transition for me to begin the initial coordination the next day,” Figueroa says.
Figueroa worked closely with Rene Hasna, a police union representative who takes a lead role in working with the families. “She has coordinated more police funerals than any other person in the State of California,” he says. “Working with her was a tremendous honor for me.”
The funeral and processions shut down parts of the city for much of the day. An estimated 20,000 people attended the service, which was the second largest police funeral in the country since 9/11. Another 10,000 people watched it on a giant screen in the outdoor Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum next door. Ten thousand police officers from around the country participated.
Putting together the funeral was done “in the midst of tremendous emotional pain and hurt,” Figueroa says, but it was important that all who were involved focus on the mission – “To honor our fallen officers and their families.”
Figueroa adds, “This was a large project, but the OPD and law enforcement agencies throughout the Bay Area really stepped up to make the funeral a celebration of the officers.”
Figueroa attended the Academy with Officer Hege and knew him well. He had worked with the other officers and had met some of their family members.
While preparing for the funeral, Figueroa says, “The most emotional part for me was my time with the families, because there are now children that will not have a father coming home at night, and wives without husbands. I was so angry that they were even in this situation because of a senseless and heartless criminal act on the part of a clearly deranged person.”
Only since the funeral has Figueroa been able to start dealing with the many different emotions. “It was helpful that the funeral was a real celebration of some great officers,” he says. “They each were unique and very special people, and I believe the services highlighted those facts.”
The worship team played music for the first two hours of prayer and reflection as the crowd waited for the family to arrive. “This was a very important set up for the actual service because we wanted a reverent atmosphere for everyone,” Figueroa says. “The families of department officers were present and were ministered to by the music.”
First Covenant Associate Pastor Marco Ambriz and Pastor of Worship Sid Smith III were in charge of music for the funeral prelude, procession and recession. Musicians and singers for those parts of the service were members of First Covenant and Patten University, a small liberal arts Christian university in Oakland. Figueroa’s wife, Natalie, sang one of the solos.
“It was an honor for us to do anything we could to support Captain Figueroa in the incredibly enormous task of organizing this funeral and leading the process of care for the families,” Ambriz says.
