[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 24828-24829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  FALLEN POLICE OFFICER MILBURN BEITEL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I was a police officer during the time I was 
going to law school. I worked at night time. I have some knowledge of 
law enforcement. My brother Larry was a longtime officer for the 
sheriff's department in Las Vegas. That has now been combined with the 
Las Vegas police department and is called the Clark County Metropolitan 
Police Department. The reason I mention that is anytime we see someone 
killed in the line of duty as a police officer, it is scary and sad. 
The men and women who protect us live with danger every day.
  In Las Vegas, we had a police officer by the name of Milburn Beitel 
who is going to be buried today. His friends called him Millie. He was 
30 years old. He died early last Thursday morning after his patrol car 
crashed at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Nellis Boulevard 
in Las Vegas. The officer with him is in very serious but stable 
condition. They expect him to live, thank goodness.
  My thoughts and those of anyone within the sound of my voice and 
anyone who cares about law enforcement, which is everybody in America 
with rare exception, are with Officer Beitel's family, his friends and 
fellow officers. Our thoughts are also with the second officer, whom we 
wish a full and speedy recovery.
  We also share the grief of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police 
Department. This is the second time in 5 months that the department has 
lost one of its own. This past May, Las Vegas police officer James 
Manor, a husband and a brandnew father, was responding to a call in the 
same Las Vegas community where he grew up. He was struck by a drunk 
driver and killed. He was 28 years old.
  Terrible events such as this one make us appreciate the selfless 
police officers who have fallen in the line of duty--far too many. We 
think of their loved ones, people whose father or mother went to work 
in the morning and never came home, those who know the terrible 
experience of mourning a son or daughter, those whose husband,

[[Page 24829]]

wife, or best friend was taken from them too soon.
  This morning, we are reminded of the bravery of those who go to work 
every day and put their lives at risk to protect people they don't 
know. We remember and honor Officer Beitel. We thank him and his fellow 
officers and their families for their service and sacrifice, not only 
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department but police departments all 
over the country, for the valiant work they do, including the men and 
women who take care of this beautiful Capitol and protect us and the 
millions of visitors who come here every year.

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