The DEA Honor Roll
Official Line of Duty Deaths
Joseph E. Seabrook
Rank: Detective
Shield Number: 460
Command: 20 Precinct
Date of Death: 05/29/2010
Cause of Death: Illnesses contracted as a result of work on the rescue and recovery from the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001.
Active Det. Joseph Edward Seabrook passed away from complications of a stroke on May 29, 2010. His condition was deemed related to his work on the rescue and recovery efforts of the WTC disaster and his death was declared line of duty in 2011.
Det. Seabrook worked for the New York City Department of Traffic before his June 30, 1995 appointment to the NYPD. During his tenure, Joe served with the 28th Precinct and the Narcotics Division, South East Queens Initiative. In October 1999, Joe was promoted to Detective and assigned to the Manhattan North Narcotics Division. At his last command, the 20th Precinct, Joe was named “Cop of the Month” on several occasions, and was well-known and loved by those who lived and worked around the Amsterdam Housing Complex, west of Lincoln Center, where he and his colleagues worked on narcotics operations and participated in a major drug take down shortly before his death.
Born in 1963 in New York City, Joe attended Alfred E. Smith High School, where he ran track and played on the basketball team. Joe’s height and unique basketball skills earned him a prestigious basketball scholarship to New York City’s Queens College. Christianity was a major part of Joe’s life and he volunteered and served at the Mother Walls A.M.E. Zion Church in the Bronx, he sang with the Youth Ensemble, later renamed The Messengers, and provided security for the Soul Children’s Choir. In 1986, Joe became a member of Greater St. Stephen United Church of God, in Brooklyn, where he served as a Trustee and a member of St. Stephens Outreach Board of Directors. Joe helped this non-profit community-based entity provide many services to the Bedford Stuyvesant community. Joe simultaneously served as the head coach for Greater St. Stephens Basketball League.
At the time of his death, Joe served the Greater Centennial A.M.E. Zion Church in Mount Vernon where he was active in the Men’s Ministry, participated in the Men’s Choir, and provided security for church conferences. Joe was also a Second Degree Mason and in October of 2010 he would have become a Master Mason of Progressive Lodge 64 in Mount Vernon.
Joe was predeceased by a brother, and was survived by his mother, his father, his two daughters, and two sisters. Det. Joe Seabrook was 46 years old.