[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31489]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2230
       CONDEMNING VIOLENCE AGAINST PHILADELPHIA'S POLICE OFFICERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Schwartz) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. SCHWARTZ. Last Wednesday, I attended the funeral of one of my 
constituents, a 25-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Force. His 
name was Officer Charles Cassidy.
  Officer Cassidy was shot and killed in the line of duty on October 
31, 2007. He was 54, and he left behind his wife, Judy, and their 3 
children, Jody, Casey and Cody.
  I would ask everyone here tonight in the House of Representatives to 
join me in a moment of silence for Officer Cassidy and the 62 other 
officers killed in the line of duty this year in our Nation.
  Thank you.
  The pain I witnessed at Officer Cassidy's funeral, that of his 
family, of his fellow officers, and the citizens of the entire region 
is why I rise tonight to ask my colleagues to join me in condemning the 
significant and deplorable wave of violence against police officers 
across this Nation.
  In the Philadelphia Police Department alone, in the past 2 months, 5 
other officers have been shot while protecting our city.
  They will all survive their wounds and continue to serve the citizens 
of the city of Philadelphia. They are:
  Officer Richard Decoatsworth on September 24, 2007, who was shot in 
the face with a shotgun while making a traffic stop. He survived his 
injuries after 5 hours of surgery. I saw him at the funeral last week.
  Officer Sandra Van Hinkel on October 28, 2007, was shot in the right 
leg during a gunfight near a nightclub.
  And Officer Marino Santiago on October 30, 2007, was shot in the 
shoulder while responding to a shooting that left 3 people 
hospitalized.
  And just last night, the city was once again shocked to learn that 2 
undercover narcotics officers were shot while serving a warrant at a 
suspect's residence on Oxford Avenue not far from my Philadelphia 
district office.
  And last May, I stood on this floor to remember another fallen police 
officer, another constituent, Philadelphia Police Officer Gary Skerski.
  Unfortunately, Philadelphia is not alone in this battle against 
violent crime. Cities big and small are coping with the threat and the 
reality of violent crime. So far this year across the country, 63 
officers have died from gunshots.
  We cannot tolerate any more of this violence against our citizens or 
against our police officers. We, the political and civic leadership of 
this country, must commit our will to tackle the wave of violence and 
the lack of respect for the rule of law and law enforcement.
  This means bringing all the forces we have within law enforcement and 
also within delinquency, criminal justice, human services, probation 
and parole, education, employment, mental health, and drug addiction 
services to face the reality of what is happening and to say that this 
violence is no longer acceptable, that this violence must stop.
  It also means that the President and this Congress must respond with 
action and the resources to enable Federal and local initiatives that 
will get illegal guns off our streets and put violent criminals behind 
bars.
  Congress should quickly complete our work on the COPS Improvement Act 
and the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill to help our 
communities and the officers who face these very real threats every day 
on the streets of our cities. And they need better technology, improved 
equipment and training, and they need more police officers on the 
street.
  I urge my colleagues to join with me in the effort to push these 
bills to finalization and to do all that we can to stop this deplorable 
violence in our midst.

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