John F. Kristoffersen

Inscribed

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Panel 42-W JOHN F KRISTOFFERSEN

Detective

Also kept at

badge.nw ↗ Detective

In memory of

John F. Kristoffersen

Detective First Grade · New York City Police Department

Died of it afterward on August 25, 2012, aged 50.

United States of America

His life

Detective John Kristoffersen died from illnesses he contracted after inhaling toxic materials as he participated in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Detective Kristoffersen had served with the New York City Police Department for 28 years and was assigned to the Brooklyn North Homicide Squad.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, seventy-two officers from a total of eight local, state, and federal agencies were killed when terrorist hijackers working for the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden, crashed four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

After the impact of the first plane into the World Trade Center's North Tower, putting the safety of others before their own, law enforcement officers along with fire and EMS personnel, rushed to the burning Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to aid the victims and lead them to safety. Due to their quick actions, it is estimated that over 25,000 people were saved.

As the evacuation continued, the South Tower unexpectedly collapsed as a result of the intense fire caused by the impact. The North Tower collapsed a short time later. Seventy-two law enforcement officers, 343 members of the New York City Fire Department, and over 2,800 civilians were killed at the World Trade Center site on 9/11.

A third hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to re-take control of the plane. One law enforcement officer, who was a passenger on the plane, was killed in that crash.

The fourth hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing almost 200 military and civilian personnel. No law enforcement officers were killed at the Pentagon on 9/11.

The terrorist attacks resulted in the declaration of war against the Taliban regime, the illegal rulers of Afghanistan, and the al Qaeda terrorist network which also was based in Afghanistan.

On September 9th, 2005, all of the public safety officers killed on September 11th, 2001, were posthumously awarded the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor by President George W. Bush.

The contamination in the air at the World Trade Center site caused many rescue personnel to become extremely ill and eventually led to the death of several rescue workers.

On May 1st, 2011, members of the United States military conducted a raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden.

Please click here to visit the memorials of all of the law enforcement officers who have died as a result of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.

His story

John F. Kristoffersen was born and raised in Lindenhurst, Long Island, and attended Farmingdale State University. He was a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician with the West Islip Fire Department before he was appointed to the New York City Police Department on 4 January 1984. He spent his whole career in Brooklyn North, serving in the 79th and 77th Precincts and in the Narcotics Division of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, where he earned his gold shield in 1991. He moved to the 77 Squad in July 1993 and to Brooklyn North Homicide in October 2000. He earned second grade in February 2003 and first grade in June 2007, and his squad elected him its delegate in March 2006. He made 700 arrests and received many department honors.

Known for his smile, his humor and his positive outlook, he was called "Papa Bear" by both his family and his colleagues. Detective Kristoffersen was still on active duty when he died on 25 August 2012 of cancer related to his rescue and recovery work at the World Trade Center. He was two and a half months short of his 51st birthday.

In June 2016, the intersection of South Fulton Avenue and Houston Street in Lindenhurst was renamed NYPD First Grade Det. John Kristoffersen Memorial Street.

The Years After

September 11, 2001

For eight months after the towers came down, men and women worked the site. Firefighters, police, paramedics, iron workers, truck drivers, cleaners, volunteers. They breathed what was in that air, and many of them have died of it since - cancers, lung disease, illnesses that took ten years or twenty to arrive.

More people have now died of September 11th than were killed on September 11th. They are not a footnote to the day. They are the day, arriving late.

A man who walked down eighty flights and out into the street, and who died of a cancer in 2031, was killed by the same attack as the man who never got out. This gate holds them together, because the same morning took them both.

Everyone taken by The Years After →

September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

On a clear Tuesday morning, four airliners were taken. Two were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one into the western face of the Pentagon, and one came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the passengers and crew went forward at the cockpit door.

Two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed. Three hundred and forty-three were firefighters of the New York City Fire Department. Seventy-one were law enforcement officers. Eight were paramedics and emergency medical technicians. One hundred and twenty-five died at the Pentagon, military and civilian together. The rest - some two thousand four hundred of them - had gone to work, or boarded a plane, and belonged to no service at all.

None of them began that morning as heroes. A great many of them ended it as heroes: men and women who carried strangers down stairwells, who stayed with people who could not walk, who held a door, who went back up. Four men on a flight over Pennsylvania, who had thirty minutes of telephone calls and knew what had already happened, decided where their aircraft would come down.

At Arlington, the nation set aside its own rules of eligibility and buried the Pentagon's civilian dead in national ground. It had decided that on this day the distinction did not apply.

Everyone taken by September 11, 2001 →

Media

John F. Kristoffersen
John F. Kristoffersen 0 Views JPG 16 KB
The Gold Shield, Winter 2013: biography 0 Views PDF 528 KB
The Gold Shield: street renaming 0 Views PDF 423 KB
The Gold Shield: Florida student memorial 0 Views PDF 382 KB
Panel 42-W, 176 namesFRANK EDWIN HOWARDFRED L WALKERMATHEW M MANTONITOM T MCGEEWALTER J BURGESSCHARLES J COLLINSANDREW F TURNERCASPER ALBERTJAMES A HINESJAMES KENNETH MCALLISTERJOHN V KINCAIDTHOMAS F CARNEYDONALD BASQUETTEHARRY CARLOUGHHENRY R JOHNSONJAMES H SAVAGEJESSE EMMETT GRIFFINMICHAEL GANNONANTONIO LINO VALDEZEDWARD F DWYERGEORGE MEFFANHORACE CALLAGHANJAMES MICHAEL YOUNGROBERT WHITEDARRELL DEAN MCCLOUDFRANK COOKJOHN W DIEKENPETER M NIKITASROBERT M CLIFTONRODNEY SCOTT MORGANGEORGE ZINTGERARD FRANCIS DUFRESNEJAMES H O’BRIENJ M BASKINTHEODORE LAUXBERTRAM BEECHFRANK STUART RODMANISAIAH L MCLAINJOHN ARTHUR CARRILLOCHARLES PRINTZCLAYTON G GRAHAMDONALD R KARTCHNERMARK KUYKENDALLTHOMAS A BATEMANEVERETT EMERSON HATCHERJAMES K KEONAONAJOHN D DIVERSROBERT DEVOIDCHARLES EDWIN COOKEFRED W BENZGEORGE J YASHURHENRY S SHIPERICHARD J GALLIVANAVANT BURMEISTER COWARDFRANCIS E CREAMERGORDON F HUFNAGLEJOHN F DARGUSJOHN WEBERBEN EDDIE GERHARTEDMUND G SMITHJOHN J SHEAROBERT E ARMSTRONGWALTER R GAWRYLAWILLIAM G CLANCYALLEN LEE HARMONALMA P SORENSENHARRY W OEBELSSAM BECKSTEVEN D MICHALKOTHEODORE ROOSEVELT MEADOWSHUGH J MCCARTNEYJAMES R BAILEYLAWRENCE PERCY DAWSONNEPHI STANNARD JENSENROBERT SUMTERWILLIAM L ABBOTJESSE GARFIELDGEORGE DUNHAMJAMES LEONARD MCCULLOCHJOSEPH A POCCHIOTHOMAS LEE HARRISJOHN M CAINDOUGLAS HOUSTON THOMPSONFRANCIS X FENTONHAROLD D HAMBRICKJAMES C LANGFORDROBERT D STRONEDANIEL J LANEFRED R BROCKMANJEREMIAH JOSEPH MURPHYJOSEPH LEE MADDOXWILLIAM H SHAIPERJANE E THOMPSON-BOWMANJOHN M LACEYROY BOWER HAZENWILLIAM DICKERSONMARK MORLEY FILERMARTIN L GANZSTEPHEN J STREHLTY EDWARD MASSEYVERNON L COXBRUCE THOMAS HINMANDANIEL EUGENE EAKERROBERT FORBISHROBERT JOSEPH HENRYSIMON J BERMINGHAMSTEPHEN WAYNE BLAIRALLEN D MCGOWNCHRISTOPHER DAVID LYDONJOHN PAUL MONEGOLUCIUS C SMITHMICHAEL RUSH CARRITHERSCHAD LEE ELKINSELMER LEON NONNASTJASON LEE ACTONRUDOLPH F HOWELLARTHUR BURDETTE DILLARDGEORGE WASHINGTON HALLLARRY DEWAYNE LEERACHIEL CAMUEL BAILEYSTEPHEN EDWARD DAVENPORTTHOMAS NEWT PEARSONJOHN MATHEW MAKIKEITH A FERGUSONCARLOS B KINGLOUIS W AHLERSSAMUEL S BREELANDSTEVEN LYNN PHILLIPSGEORGE T PRESTONJ ALEX BURDETTELAFAYETTE HAMPTONPETER JAY RESCHSTANLEY CORNELL REAVESCLARENCE D LANHAMJOE BILL GALLOWAYJOHN N HARRISMARVIN JEROME SCARLETTPAUL GOLDAKJAMES A GROSSJOHN BOWERSJOHN FRANKLIN HARMANNRALPH WARD HAYCRAFTRICHARD JOHN MATTHEWSSAMUEL F PIERCEGEORGE E ROBERTSJAMES PHILIP STICKLENROBERT CASEY JONESDOUGLAS LEON HANNAISAAC H MITCHELLJAMES EARLE PRICEJOSEPH S HOVERGEORGE SMITHRAYMOND C BOGARTANTHONY DEJESUSJASON DAVID MOSZERJOHN F KRISTOFFERSENJORGE SANCHEZLEON ALBERT MAYBENJAMIN FRANKLIN YOSTPATRICK THOMAS ROHRERRAYMOND BRADLEY JIMMERSONWYATT OUTLAWADAM S MCMILLANANTHONY JOSEPH LUCANTOEDWARD C LYNCHJOSEPH SPINOSASTEPHEN MARK EVANSBRUCE RUSSELL GADANSKYJAMES WALTER HITEJASON ROBERT RAYNORJOHN DAVIS STARKSFERNANDO URIEL ARROYOSRICHARD LEE BARNESANTHONY DUPREE MARTINJOSEPH ANTHONY TRIPOLIFRANK JOHN DUSTIN

Panel 42-W

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What people have said 1

I came looking for your name and I found it, and I stopped here a while. Rest easy.

S. Vincent Anthony 11 September 2026

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