[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 28, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IN RECOGNITION OF ELMER ``BOB'' EASTMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 28, 2012

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Sergeant Elmer ``Bob'' 
Eastman for his 29 years of service with the South San Francisco Police 
Department. He will be missed by his fellow officers who praise him as 
a go-getter, team player, leader, master detective and trainer.
  Sergeant Eastman started at the South San Francisco Police Department 
as an officer in May 1982 and was promoted to sergeant in February 
1998. He served as a special agent with the San Mateo County Narcotics 
Task Force and was a founding member of the San Mateo County's North-
Central Regional SWAT Team.
  He remembers 1998 as one of the best times in his life. He weighed 
219 pounds. To get on the SWAT team he had to lose 50 60 pounds--and he 
did by running with a buddy every single day.
  Sergeant Eastman's perseverance is matched by his optimism and sense 
of humor. He came close to being killed in the line of duty twice, once 
in a shootout on El Camino Real, the other time when a suspect in a 
drug case tried to run him over with a car, or as he puts it, ``Bob's 
on the hood.''
  From 1992 95, he worked as an undercover agent in San Mateo County. 
He says he bought any drug imaginable and looked like Charles Manson. 
His wife was not fond of that look. In fact she banished him to the 
back of the church in those days.
  Sergeant Eastman volunteered for 16 years as the original drill 
instructor for the county's Peninsula Explorer Academy and he was the 
president of the South San Francisco Police Activity League from 1987 
to 1989.
  He was born in New Jersey in 1958, but spent his childhood in Sydney, 
Australia. He attended Ku-Ring-Gai High School before transferring to 
Menlo-Atherton High School when his family moved to the Bay Area in 
1974.
  Before he started his career in law enforcement, Sergeant Eastman 
served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army National Guard.
  Sergeant Eastman and his wife Kerry will celebrate their 25th wedding 
anniversary next year. They have two children, David and Janelle. In 
his retirement he will no doubt enjoy more time with his family and 
friends and find ways to keep his quick wit and creativity engaged.
  He applies the same optimism he has applied to his work to his life. 
Faced with serious health challenges, Sergeant Eastman says life is 
wonderful and he is going to live every day to the fullest.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask this body to rise with me to honor Sergeant Elmer 
``Bob'' Eastman for his decades of dedication to public service and for 
keeping the residents of South San Francisco safe.

                          ____________________