[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2959-S2960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          National Police Week

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, this week, our Nation observes National 
Police Week. This year, during National Police Week, we pay tribute to 
143 officers who died in the line of duty during 2016--among them, 
Sergeant Allen David Brandt of the Fairbanks Police Department. I come 
to the floor to acknowledge not only Sergeant Brandt but all those 
officers who served us so honorably.
  Sergeant Brandt's wife Natasha and children, Fritz, Kate, Claire, and 
Belle have traveled all the way from Fairbanks to participate in the 
events this week. They are accompanied by Allen's best friend, Officer 
Phil McBroom of the North Pole Police Department, as well as a large 
group of colleagues from the Fairbanks Police Department, led by Chief 
Eric Jewkes.
  Chief Jewkes, joined by Sergeant Lockwood and Officer Werner, came 
into Washington for Police Week in a somewhat unique way. They joined 
2,200 officers from around the Nation in a 4-day charity bike ride from 
Northern New Jersey to Washington, DC. They call it the Police Unity 
Tour, and their motto is: ``We ride for those who died.''
  Police Week begins with the dedication of names added this year to 
the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on Judiciary Square. 
That dedication occurs during a very, very moving candlelight vigil at 
the beginning of Police Week. The candlelight vigil was conducted on 
Saturday evening on the National Mall this year.
  Chief Jewkes, in full uniform, read Allen's name before a crowd 
numbering 10,000 people or more. A bell was rung, acknowledging the 
loss of Allen David Brandt. Allen's name was the only Alaska name added 
to the wall this year.
  I wish to thank Craig Floyd, who is the president of the National Law 
Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, for the courtesy in affording Chief 
Jewkes this special honor.
  Allen's name is now inscribed in perpetuity on the memorial wall 
among the 21,000 officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. His 
name appears on the bottom of Panel 21-East. This week, the shoulder 
patch of the Fairbanks Police Department is affixed at the top of that 
panel. Quite coincidentally, a few lines up on that same panel are the 
names of Officers Matt Tokuoka and Anthony Wallace of the Hoonah Police 
Department, who were brought down by an assailant's bullet in 2010.
  During Police Week, we do not dwell on the circumstances under which 
law enforcement officers gave their lives. We rather focus on how they 
lived their exemplary lives, and, yes, we pay our respects to the 
fallen, but Police Week also looks forward. The annual survivor's 
seminar, sponsored by Concerns of Police Survivors, which helps those 
who have suffered a law enforcement tragedy grieve and ultimately 
recover, is an important part of this week as well.
  While so much of Police Week is for the law enforcement family, those 
of us in Washington cannot help but notice what is going on around us--
officers in uniform, honor guards, motorcycles, police cars from around 
the country, the entire law enforcement family--Federal, State, local, 
Tribal, and visiting officers from places like Canada, England, and 
Israel.
  Many visiting officers bring their spouses. Some bring their 
children. We are able to truly see the faces behind those uniforms and 
those badges, and we can look into the eyes of the families.
  Let me say a few words about the children who have come in for the 
observance. You see them on the Metro, sitting atop their father's 
shoulders. Daddy is wearing his dress uniform. At the candlelight 
vigil, one of my staff members witnessed a U.S. Park Police officer, in 
uniform, explaining to her young daughter the meaning of the ceremony. 
You experience the words of the children at the memorial wall itself, 
where Emma Moody, the 10-year-old daughter of a fallen California 
officer, left a hand-drawn memorial to her dad, and it reads:

       When I get to heaven the first thing I am going to do is 
     find you. The second thing I will do is never ever let you go 
     again.

  When you experience things like this, you cannot help but appreciate 
the humanity behind the uniforms--a father, a mother, an aunt, an 
uncle, a friend, a colleague, a neighbor. Law enforcement is no 
stranger to controversy. Yet it is so important that we see beyond 
controversy; that when we look at an officer we see the humanity that 
runs toward danger and not from it; the humanity that responds to every 
call for service, not knowing whether it will be the last; the humanity 
that kisses a child goodbye before beginning a shift, not knowing 
whether he will ever see those children again; the humanity that was 
Allen Brandt.
  The story I just recited is Allen's story. Allen was released from 
the hospital after being shot five times by an assailant. He died from 
complications associated with a second series of surgeries.
  Allen lived long enough to appear before the Fairbanks City Council 
and thank the community for their support. He also offered some very 
cautionary words. He said:

       Our officers do a very hard job, most of the time 
     thankless. Working weekends when their friends are with their 
     families. Working nights and sleeping during the day. We need 
     your support and not just when bad things happen.

  A few weeks later, Anchorage Police Officer Arn Salao thought he was 
responding to a call involving a dispute between a cabdriver and his 
passenger. When he arrived at the scene, he was ambushed and shot four 
times. Miraculously, Officer Salao survived his injuries.
  In spite of these tragedies, it is dispiriting that people continue 
to challenge law enforcement. Last week, Colonel James Cockrell, 
retired after 30 years with the Alaska State Troopers, and just prior 
to his retirement, reflected on the dangers troopers face. Assaults on 
Alaska State Troopers are up, from 52 in 2013 to 131 last year.
  I wish to share with the Senate a few lines from an interview with 
KTUU in Anchorage. Colonel Cockrell said:

       I think there's generally a little bit less respect for law 
     enforcement. I think a lot of that spurred from the Lower 48. 
     We're having troopers contact people in a one-on-one 
     situation. Individuals are more apt to fight with us if they 
     think they have an advantage, when we don't have backup. We 
     don't have two or three troopers responding to a high risk 
     crime in progress. The consequences are that people are more 
     apt to fight with our Troopers.

  All of this is deeply tragic. As I look across the Nation, we are not 
really seeing any signs of abatement. Some might be attributable to the 
opioid crisis, some to a loss of respect for law enforcement, and some 
simply because suspects challenge law enforcement in hopes of evading 
them.
  This year, law enforcement has already suffered 48 line-of-duty 
deaths, 17 of those from gunfire. This fact is not lost on the officers 
from Interior Alaska who are in our Nation's Capital this week. It is 
not lost on those who are considering law enforcement careers but 
decide to perhaps take a pass, leaving critical vacancies in agencies 
throughout the country. Law enforcement remains very dangerous work, 
and for all the satisfaction that comes from serving people in their 
darkest

[[Page S2960]]

moments, there are no guarantees the officer will return home.
  I hope that, during this National Police Week and throughout the 
year, we will reflect on Allen Brandt's final words: ``Law enforcement 
needs our support and not just when bad things happen.''
  In these times, law enforcement needs that support now more than 
ever. On behalf of my Senate colleagues, I offer my continued 
condolences to Natasha Brandt and her family, to Allen Brandt's 
colleagues, and to survivors of law enforcement tragedies everywhere.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Johnson). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.