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Detective

Raymond C. Abear

New York City Police Department — New York, NY

COVID-19 → Illness

End of Watch April 13, 2020

Age 43

Tour of Duty 20 yrs 4 mo

Badge 3740

The Vigil Panel 380 · Column 1 · Line 11 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Also Remembered Department 1,221

Incident

Raymond C. Abear was a lifelong resident of Queens. He joined the New York City Police Department in July 2001 and became a detective with the Queens Special Victims Squad, carrying shield 3740. His work took him to the bedsides of crime victims in Queens hospitals, and he kept making those visits as COVID-19 filled the borough's emergency rooms in the spring of 2020. Colleagues remembered him as a man who would always go out of his way for others.

He contracted the virus during a presumed exposure on duty and died of its complications on 13 April 2020, at the age of 43. He was survived by his wife and their two children, Jackson, who was two, and Stella, who was four months old. The corner of 164th Place and Goethals Avenue in Hillcrest, Queens, now bears his name.

COVID-19 and Law Enforcement

Detective Raymond C. Abear died on April 13, 2020 of COVID-19 contracted in the line of duty. He was 43.

He is one of 885 officers honored here, and one of 18 at New York City Police Department.

Beginning in early 2020, law enforcement officers across the country contracted COVID-19 in the course of their duties. While much of the nation sheltered at home, they kept answering calls, making arrests, transporting prisoners, and working face to face with the public. There was no distance to be had from the job.

Corrections officers were hit hardest. Confined facilities and large populations meant constant, close, unavoidable exposure.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife and two children.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: October 17, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at requiem.nw. One record, 2 gates. Raymond is one person.

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Tributes

The country locked its doors. You kept working.
Detective Abear gave the New York City Police Department 20 years.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective Abear.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department New York City Police Department

Type Police Department

Location New York, NY

Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch April 13, 2020

Tour of Duty 20 yrs 4 mo

Age 43

Badge Number 3740

Gender Male

Assignment Queens Special Victims Squad

Incident Details

Cause Illness

The Sacrifice · Illness

Raymond is one of 2,028 officers lost to illness in the United States, 7.4% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 2020, 346 officers in the United States were lost to illness, the 2nd heaviest of 108 years on record. The heaviest was 2021, with 564.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Raymond was 43. Of the 1,996 lost to illness in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 42 and 58; the middle age was 51. Raymond had served 20.3 years; the middle length of service was 20 years.