When Sgt. Ershadur Siddique joined the New York Police Department in 2003, he was one of just a handful of Bangladeshi immigrants on the nation’s largest police force. Today, more than 1,000 of the NYPD's roughly 33,000 uniformed members are of Bangladeshi heritage, according to the Bangladeshi Police Association. Sgt. Siddique is currently president of the fraternal organization. Another 1,500 people of Bangladeshi heritage are among the department's 19,000 civilian employees, the group says. Among the growing cohort from Bangladesh — a developing, majority Muslim country just east of India — was Officer Didarul Islam, one of the four people gunned down last week in a Manhattan office tower that houses the headquarters of the NFL. The 36-year-old, who was posthumously promoted to the rank of detective after serving nearly four years, was the first Bangladeshi NYPD officer killed in the line of duty. Islam’s Bronx funeral underscored the fertile recruiting grounds the department has found within the city’s roughly 100,000 member Bangladeshi community, the nation’s largest, with a visible turnout from officers affiliated with the Bangladeshi Police Association. "It's a sad story that Detective Didarul Islam has to die like this, but he is one of us," Siddique said. The growth of Bangladeshi officers within the department ranks came partly in response to anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11, according to Shamsul Haque, one of the founders of the Bangladeshi Police Association. Haque retired earlier this year after becoming the first South Asian and first Muslim to attain the rank of lieutenant commander in the NYPD. He and other Bangladeshi immigrants who joined in those early years wanted to dispel the notion that all Muslims were terrorists or sympathizers. Sergeant Siddique was a math major at Queens College in New York. He wanted to teach. But that before he talked to a few NYPD recruitment officers in the schools cafeteria."That led me to become a police officer so I can serve my own community." Aspiring Bangladeshi officers were encouraged to take civilian jobs in the department -- such as traffic enforcement officers and school safety agents -- that don’t require U.S. citizenship, Siddique explained. After gaining citizenship, usually in about five years, they could then apply for the police academy to become a uniformed officer. Some 60% of all officers of Bangladeshi heritage in the NYPD followed this pipeline. Even Islam, the officer slain last week, began his career as a civilian school officer after immigrating to the U.S. in 2009. The visible growth of Bangladeshis with the NYPD has helped many aspire to more prominent -- and lucrative -- leadership roles in the department, just as generations of Irish, Italian, Latino and other immigrants did. Of the roughly 1,000 uniformed officers with Bangladesh roots, there are 10 detectives, 82 sergeants, 20 lieutenants and four inspectors, according to Sgt. Siddique. The department's uniform ranks are roughly 38% white, 33% Hispanic, 17% Black and nearly 12% Asian, according to NYPD data. The now 45-year-old’s career has taken him from the Central Park beat, a precinct in Queens, the department’s community affairs office and now as a member of Mayor Eric Adams’ security detail. Ishmam Chowdhury, a 26-year-old officer who graduated from the academy in May, said Islam’s death just a few months into his own career has left a lasting impression. Like Islam’s wife, who is expecting their third child, his wife is due to give birth to their first in a matter of weeks. Chowdhury said he dreamed of joining law enforcement even before he immigrated to the U.S. in 2019. As a teenager in Bangladesh, he and other family members were robbed multiple times, and the feeling of helplessness and humiliation stuck with him, he said. "I feel like in general, the Bangladeshi community bring a huge deal of respect and appreciation for the law and order in general," Chowdhury said. Chowdhury started as a volunteer member of NYPD auxiliary police before joining the civilian ranks as a 911 operator in 2021. He also served about a year in the police force in Washington, D.C. after it opened applications to green card holders in 2023, but he and his wife felt isolated from friends and family. So the couple moved back to Queens, and when he earned his citizenship last year, he quickly enrolled in the police academy. "I look at wearing this uniform as a symbol of giving back to a country that has given me a lot,” Chowdhury said.