[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 80 (Thursday, May 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2300-H2301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE MEMORY OF FALLEN POLICE OFFICERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

[[Page H2301]]

  

  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate National Police 
Week across the country, I rise on the House floor this afternoon to 
honor the memory of the five fallen police officers who we lost last 
year in eastern Kentucky.
  Three police officers in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, paid the ultimate 
sacrifice when they were tragically shot in the line of duty on June 
30, 2022:
  Ralph Harlow Frasure, a 39-year law enforcement veteran who served as 
captain of the Prestonsburg City Police Department for nearly four 
decades and a beloved school resource officer at Prestonsburg High 
School.
  William Edward Petrey, a 31-year law enforcement veteran who served 
the Kentucky State Police, the Prestonsburg Police Department, and, 
finally, the Floyd County Sheriff's Office.
  Jacob Russell Chaffins, a young 28-year-old law enforcement officer 
who courageously served the Kentucky Army National Guard, the 
Prestonsburg Police Department, and the Prestonsburg Fire Department 
and became a U.S. marshal.
  Their heroic deaths were the greatest display of love described in 
John 15:13: ``Greater love has no man than this: to lay down his life 
for his friends.''
  It was with great courage of conviction that those three officers 
lived to protect the people of the United States, the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky, and especially those in Floyd County.
  Two hours west in my district, the London Police Department also 
grieves the loss of two of their brave officers last year:
  Logan Medlock, a young 26-year-old officer with the London City 
Police Department, a volunteer firefighter for the Keavy Fire 
Department, and a former correctional officer, was struck and killed by 
a drunk driver on October 30, 2022. Officer Medlock worked in lockstep 
with his father, Randy Medlock, on the police force. Together, they 
strived to make the city of London a safer place to live.
  Finally, Travis Hurley, a beloved 21-year veteran of the London 
Police Department lost a long battle with COVID-19 early last year.
  The names of these five brave men will be engraved on the National 
Law Enforcement Officers Memorial here in Washington, D.C., along with 
the names of two other officers from my district:
  Oliver Little, a Floyd County sheriff's deputy who died from 
complications after contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty in 2021.
  Dixon Allen Sasser, a veteran of the Harlan Police Department who was 
shot and killed in the line of duty back in 1918.
  President Theodore Roosevelt, who was a former commissioner of the 
New York City Police Department, once said, ``No man is worth his salt 
who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well-being, 
to risk his life, in a great cause.''
  In a nation where police officers have been vilified in recent years 
by the actions of a few bad actors, may the lives of these fallen 
officers be a reminder of the outstanding integrity and sacrifice that 
the thin blue line represents.
  We must continue to support our law enforcement officers across the 
country, ensuring they are fully equipped, adequately prepared, and 
never at the mercy of evildoers.
  This Nation owes a great debt of gratitude for the valiant service of 
our fallen heroes. May their loved ones find peace and confidence in 
God's promise in Matthew 5:9: ``Blessed are the peacemakers, for they 
will be called children of God.''
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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