[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 19, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S2132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO POLICE CHIEF RICK McCUBBIN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I would like to say a few words about 
my good friend Police Chief Rick McCubbin of the Bardstown Police 
Department. We learned yesterday that he will be retiring from service 
after 5 years as chief and nearly 30 years in law enforcement.
  Chief McCubbin led his officers through some of the most troubling 
times in the police department's history. He did so with rigor and 
resolve, with grit and with grace.
  Nearly 3 years ago, the Bardstown Police Department took a blow to 
its very core with the tragic assassination of Officer Jason Ellis, who 
was killed in an ambush while driving home in uniform and in a marked 
vehicle. Authorities have strong reason to believe the killing was 
retaliation from drug traffickers against a police department that was 
making significant progress in rooting out trafficking and making drug 
arrests.
  Chief McCubbin was the leader of that effort to stamp out drug crime. 
He spoke eloquently on behalf of the whole department about the loss of 
their brother Jason, who will never be forgotten. I know that while the 
case remains unsolved today, he has led the effort to see Officer 
Ellis's killers brought to justice.
  Chief McCubbin continued the fight against drug trafficking by seeing 
to it that Bardstown's surrounding Nelson County earned inclusion in 
the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, which we 
call HIDTA, back in 2014. HIDTA is not just another government acronym 
but a model that works. It couples Federal law enforcement with State 
and local task forces and the supplies, training, and technology they 
need. By getting Nelson County included in the HIDTA program, Chief 
McCubbin brought a powerful force multiplier to his department's own 
efforts to fight drug trafficking and keep the citizens of Bardstown 
safe.
  It has been an honor to work with Chief Rick McCubbin over the years. 
He received the honor of Kentucky's Police Chief of the Year in 2015, 
and I know the people of Bardstown and Nelson County certainly 
appreciate his diligence and determination to fight crime and to keep 
them safe. I thank him for his service to Bardstown, to Kentucky, and 
to the Nation.

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