UB Police host honor guard training

Published June 13, 2013 This content is archived.

UB Police last week welcomed nearly 50 police and law enforcement officers from throughout New York State for the first police honor guard training of its kind in Western New York.

The officers received training in duties and topics relevant to honor guards, including marching, color guards, flag etiquette, rifle salutes and funeral details.

Fourteen different New York State agencies were represented in the classes held June 3-7 on UB’s North Campus. Police and law enforcement officials from Buffalo State College, Cornell University and various municipalities, such as Cheektowaga and North Tonawanda, as well as officials from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, were among the 48 students taking the rigorous course instruction.

The sessions concluded with a simulated “full honors” funeral ceremony that began at the UB Newman Center on Skinnersville Road and continued with a procession to the Skinnersville Cemetery on Frontier Road.

“This is the first-of-its-kind formalized police honor guard training in this area,” says UB Police Officer Brendon Zubek, who organized the training session. “It’s a way to help us honor and remember our fallen brothers and sisters.

“These ceremonies are to provide a service to the families to temporary relieve them of their grief.”

Previous police training was based on military protocol, according to Zubek, and police protocol for honor guards is not the same.

The training was conducted by the DFL Honor Guard Training Group from Goshen, Ind.