[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 7, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H7]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                   TRIBUTE TO OFFICER ROBERT DECKARD

  (Mr. GALLEGO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this first day of our 2014 
session to pay tribute to a husband, a father, a son, and a San 
Antonian.
  Bobby Deckard was a San Antonio police officer who died on Friday, 
December 20. He had come in on his day off to substitute for a 
colleague. He was shot in the line of duty. He was only 31 years of 
age.
  This past Saturday, San Antonio and its citizens came together to 
honor Bobby's life and bid him a final farewell. Thousands of people 
lined the streets, and thousands of police officers from throughout the 
country were present as police helicopters flew in formation above the 
burial service, in remembrance of someone who spent 7 years of his life 
helping the citizens of San Antonio.
  During the ceremony, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus 
instructed police dispatchers to retire Bobby's badge number, 0582, and 
every officer throughout the city heard the retirement of that badge 
number.
  In a November email, ironically, Bobby Deckard had aspired to join 
the honor guard, the honor guard that, in fact, escorted his flag-
draped coffin. In an email to his supervisor, he wrote that was the 
highest position of honor inside the department. That tells us so much 
about him, so much about him even as we mourn his loss. He had a 
positive outlook and a great personality. His humor could win anybody 
over.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, I ask that we all take a moment to remember 
Bobby Deckard, police officer from San Antonio, Texas, whose name will 
now be added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial, the only 
memorial in Washington that has never been completed.

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