Family, friends,police flock to Revere ribute

for slain TalbotBy Thor Jourgensen/The Daily ItemREVERE – His boyhood friend and fellow police officer remembered Daniel Talbot Saturday as a confident, fun-loving young man who decided to forge a public service career after serving his country.”He provided an example to everyone around him,” Officer William Soto said as he stood before the packed pews of St. Anthony’s Church flanked by four fellow officers.Police from across the state converged on St. Anthony’s for the funeral along with elected officials and local residents. Talbot was buried next to family members in Cambridge Cemetery.Talbot, 30, was killed in an exchange of gunfire next to Revere High School in the early hours of Sept. 29 in what Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley described as “a chance encounter between officers and the assailants.”Rev. Donald Milligan, State Police chaplain, spoke directly to Talbot’s grandfather, William; fiancé, Constance Bethell, and other relatives in offering thoughts about Talbot.”Connie, when you walk through these days of great sorrow the Revere Police Department will comfort you. You are one of their very own; that’s what they do.”Soto recalled how he met Talbot on a school bus when they were 12 years old. He described Talbot as a practical joker who was serious about his personal goals, including joining the Army where he served in the 1st Cavalry Division.”He taught me how to be a police officer. He had an air of confidence you could call cockiness if you didn’t know him well.”Soto said his friend’s sense of commitment started eclipsing his love of being a born comedian when he met Bethell at a college party.”It was clear to everyone Danny’s life had changed,” Soto said.Milligan said Talbot’s death underscores the ever-present danger faced by police officers.”Danny and all his brothers and sisters 24/7, 365 days-a-year are willing to lay down their lives. Each time they report to work they have to be at their best. Any day could be their last. For Danny it came to that last Saturday.”A blue police officer’s cap sat atop Talbot’s casket during the funeral and after Soto finished speaking, the mourners gave him a standing ovation before filing out of the church to the strains of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.Revere police who marched to the church for the funeral led the procession to the cemetery with Talbot’s family in tow.On the storefront of the nearby D.A.M. Dart Depot a sign in the window read: “God Bless Revere’s Finest Danny Talbot.”Conley attended the funeral and said afterward that a dozen detectives are looking for Talbot’s killer.”We’re following facts and evidence where it takes us. We’re doing the good investigative work that needs to be done,” he said