[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 78 (Tuesday, June 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6398-S6399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




WHITE HOUSE SIGNING CEREMONY FOR THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT 
                              ACT OF 1998

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today is a very special day for both our 
nation's serving law enforcement officers and myself.
  At 3:00 this afternoon, Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan and I 
were at the White House attending a ceremony where the President signed 
into law the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998. The 
enactment of this bill is near and dear to my heart.
  During the years I served as a Deputy Sheriff in Sacramento County, 
California, I gained a first-hand understanding of the dangers our law 
enforcement officers face in the line of duty. Our brave men and women 
wearing a badge simply never know what life threatening dangers each 
new day may bring. We must do everything we can to help these officers 
acquire the equipment they need to stay alive while they are going 
about the job of protecting the American people and preserving the 
peace.
  The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act will help get one of the 
most critical and effective pieces of life saving equipment, namely 
body armor, into the hands of thousands of cops who would not otherwise 
have the resources to access it. Simply put, this bill will save many, 
many lives. This bill will help prevent wives from becoming widows, 
husbands from becoming widowers, and children from being raised without 
their father or mother.
  On this special day, it is fitting to pay a tribute to one very 
special law enforcement officer who was killed recently while serving 
in the line of duty. Officer Bruce VanderJagt was killed by a hail of 
bullets in Denver, Colorado in November, 1997. His untimely death left 
his wife, Anna Marie, without her husband, and his two-year-old 
daughter, Hayley Louise, without her devoted father. Officer Bruce 
VanderJagt is remembered for his charm, his exceptional humility, his 
wit and intelligence as exemplified by the two master's degrees he 
earned, and the courage that earned him two distinguished service 
crosses. He will be missed.
  We must do all we can to protect law enforcement officers like Bruce 
VanderJagt. If even one law enforcement officer's life is saved by a 
bullet proof vest that would not have been available without this law, 
all of our hard work that went into getting this bill through Congress 
and today enacted into law, will have been well worth it.

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