[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 107 (Thursday, July 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7583-S7584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING THE CAPITOL POLICE

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I have five children. As they have grown, 
we have moved on a number of occasions. But I have been able to keep, 
as one of my prized possessions and bring back memories of my younger 
days, a number of things. If you have children, as the Presiding 
Officer knows, it is hard to keep things from being broken or 
misplaced. But I have a number of things I have been able to keep. One 
is the badge I wore when I was a Capitol policeman here on Capitol 
Hill. I still have that. It is in my conference room, and occasionally 
I will look up and see it. It reminds me of my days here in a different 
capacity as a police officer.
  I came to Washington, DC, as a young man to get my law degree. I had 
a wife and a little baby. I worked from 3 to 11 every night except 
Sunday. I went to law school full time. But my time as a Capitol 
policeman was something I will always remember. We did not have the 
training the police officers have today. That is a gross 
understatement. We had very little training. But I carried my six-
shooter and my uniform, of which I still have some pictures. I am very 
proud of that. I did not do anything dangerous. I have said here on the 
Senate floor before, the most dangerous thing I did was direct traffic. 
I say that because the old streetcar tracks caused the cars to bounce 
around, and you sometimes would wonder if they would get you because 
they were going fast up Constitution.
  So having had little experience as a police officer, in the sense 
that we now see these police officers protecting us, I have a deep and 
genuine appreciation for the sacrifice the men and women who are 
Capitol police officers make. When I was a Capitol policeman--all men, 
no women. But now, all over the Capitol complex, there are hundreds of 
women who help protect us.
  The reason I make this brief introduction is yesterday afternoon, our 
Capitol police once again did their jobs with great bravery and skill. 
Fortuitously, this came at such an interesting time. Next week, a week 
from tomorrow, we are going to have a ceremony here in the Capitol, as 
we do every year--I believe this is the 11th year--where we recognize 
the bravery

[[Page S7584]]

of two Capitol police officers who were killed, Officers Chestnut and 
Gibson.
  Gibson I knew. We were on a Senate retreat in Virginia, and my wife 
became ill. Gibson is the man who ran with all of the paraphernalia to 
make sure she was going to be OK. He was profusely perspiring. I can 
still remember very clearly this wonderful hard-working man. He came to 
save my wife.
  Well, these two officers were killed. In the process of their being 
murdered by a madman, we do not know how many people's lives were saved 
in the Capitol complex. But it was the impetus that caused us to 
complete this great Capitol Visitor Center that we have, in the 
sacrifice that they certainly did not intend to make but they did make 
because of their training and skill.
  Yesterday, an armed man fled a traffic stop, driving erratically 
around Capitol Hill. We do not know all of the details, but we do know 
that he struck a parked car, we understand now a motorcycle and a 
police car, a Capitol police car, and he almost ran over two police 
officers.
  But when he got out of the car, a block from where we are right now, 
he came with an Uzi-type weapon, semiautomatic weapon, and started 
firing at the police and anyone else around them.
  Fortunately, the Capitol police officers stopped him before he had a 
chance to do any harm. He was shot numerous times as was required under 
the circumstances. But the interesting part about this is what did the 
police officers do when the firing stopped, when they could no longer 
hear the bullets. They immediately ran over and administered first aid 
to this domestic terrorist. They tried to save the life of a man who 
seconds earlier tried to take theirs.
  I do not know how we define heroism, but I think that is a pretty 
good description. An investigation is, of course, underway. We do not 
know all of the details, nor can we know how many lives these officers 
saved yesterday. And we cannot sufficiently thank them for what they 
did. But on behalf of the entire Senate, we appreciate each of them. I 
admire what you do. Wherever we go on this Capitol complex, there are 
people looking over us. That is not the way it always was, but now with 
terrorism, with there being a war that is being waged against our great 
country, we have had to have all of these police officers protect not 
only us but all of the people who come here on a daily basis.
  We have people whom we can see in uniform. We have people we do not 
know are police officers; they are in plain clothing. We deeply value 
the honorable work these men and women do for us every day, putting 
their lives on the line to protect people they do not know.

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