[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2193-E2194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT WREATHLAYING CEREMONY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 26, 1999

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, I attended the Eighth Annual 
Wreathlaying Ceremony commemorating the Anniversary of the National Law 
Enforcement Officers Memorial's Dedication. Although I have attended 
these commemorations in the past, this year's ceremony was particularly 
touching.
  Over the course of this decade, our federal, state and local law 
enforcement officers increasingly have faced dangerous conditions in 
communities around the Nation. During the 1990s, an average of more 
than 62,000 officers were assaulted, more than 21,000 were injured and 
160 were killed in the line of duty each year. The walls of the Law 
Enforcement Officer's Memorial are lined with more than 14,000 names, 
including three of our very own Capitol Police Officers--Officer Jacob 
J. Chesnut, Detective John Gibson and Officer Christopher Eney.
  Every single day, the men and women of law enforcement put their 
lives on the line to protect and serve large and small communities 
across this Nation. They risk their lives to make ours safe and secure. 
Whether as a border patrol agent, state trooper, or community-oriented 
police officer, all face the ultimate sacrifice in upholding the laws 
that serve as the foundation to our democratic form of government.
  Below you will find that text of remarks made by Mrs. Shirley Gibson. 
Mrs. Gibson is the mother of Officer Brian Gibson, one of 160 police 
officers killed in the line of duty in 1997 and one of three officers 
from the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department to be 
killed during a three-month period in that year. Officer Gibson was 
brutally gunned down outside of a District night club not far from this 
Chamber.
  Since Brian's death almost two years ago, Mrs. Gibson has formed a 
local chapter of the

[[Page E2194]]

Concerns of Police Survivors. I salute her efforts to remember Brian 
and the thousands of other officers that have left behind family and 
friends while making the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

       Mrs. Gibson: I feel qualified to stand here today and 
     represent the survivors of each name inscribed on the walls 
     of this beautiful Memorial. I see so much more than names on 
     these walls. I see husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, 
     brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. I see my son's 
     face. His name was added to these walls two short years ago, 
     along with the names of two fellow Metropolitan Police 
     Department officers, Oliver Smith, Jr. and Robert Johnson, 
     all killed in a span of three months.
       640 law enforcement officers' names from the District of 
     Columbia and the Metropolitan area are included in the more 
     than 14,0000 names that line these walls.
       This Memorial recognizes all law enforcement, whether 
     federal, state or local, and pays tribute to those officers 
     killed in the line of duty. There are no boundaries in the 
     family of law enforcement. The grief, shock, and anger felt 
     that the deaths of U.S. Capitol Police Officer J.J. Chestnut 
     and Detective John Gibson, and the support from MPD and other 
     departments here and around the country, is an example of how 
     law enforcement is truly a family.
       To survivors, this is a place that evokes a flood of 
     emotions. I remember seeing my son Brian's name being 
     inscribed on the wall, and the pride I felt mixed with the 
     pain. Pride, knowing that my son was an outstanding officer 
     who was killed during what he loved most, and that his name 
     was being memorialized for all who love him to see and 
     remember. Pain, because I realized that Brian's name would 
     not be the last name inscribed here. Since Brian's death, 
     there have been many more names added, and as much as we pray 
     that there will be no more, we realize that it is inevitable. 
     To those law enforcement officers who diligently continue the 
     job that Brian and the thousands of others here died for, the 
     message this Memorial sends is that you are appreciated, you 
     are needed and you make the world a safer place for law-
     abiding citizens.
       On this, the eighth anniversary of the dedication this 
     Memorial, another message is clearly sent. That message is 
     that the role of Law Enforcement Officers will never be 
     diminished, that the names inscribed here and the names 
     attached to every law enforcement badge, convey the strength, 
     courage, and valor symbolized by the imposing lions with 
     guard the entrance to this Memorial.
       The survivors who visit this Memorial find a quiet place of 
     remembrance, dignity and pride. A mother from New York called 
     me a few weeks after Police Week this year. Her only son had 
     been honored. When she returned home, the desire to come back 
     to the Memorial was so strong, that a few days later she 
     boarded a train to Union Station, got a taxi and came here to 
     simply spend the day looking at her son's name and remembered 
     faces of those who advocated peace. A place where the wind 
     whispers ``Always remembered. Never forgotten.'' A place 
     worthy of the name of those who sacrificed their lives in the 
     line of duty.

  God Bless the Gibson Family and God Bless the thousands of families 
whose loved ones are remembered on the walls of the National Law 
Enforcement Officers Memorial. Their tremendous sacrifice will never be 
forgotten. We will forever be in their debt.

                          ____________________