[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13810]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SERGEANT JOE SZCZERBA

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a hero. I rise to 
remember the sacrifice of a man I am proud to have known. I rise to 
remember SGT Joe Szczerba of the New Castle County Police who was 
killed in the line of duty just this past Thursday night.
  Sergeant Szczerba and several other officers responded to a 
disorderly conduct call in New Castle, DE, just before midnight. The 
officers arrived on the scene and set up a perimeter. Sergeant Szczerba 
spotted the suspect and gave chase. A seasoned officer, Sergeant 
Szczerba attempted to subdue the man, and in a very tough fight that 
ensued he was stabbed.
  The suspect continued to resist arrest. Although seriously wounded, 
Sergeant Szczerba worked with three other officers to take the suspect 
into custody. Only then did he acknowledge his injury. Officers on the 
scene performed CPR until county paramedics arrived, but it was not 
enough. Sergeant Szczerba did not make it.
  When I was county executive for New Castle County for 6 years, after 
a particularly long or difficult day, as I was heading home, I would 
flip on the police scanner in my car and listen to the chatter, to the 
calls from dispatch and the officers responding. I was always mindful 
in those hours that here I was heading home to my family and safety and 
here were our officers heading out on patrol into a dark and uncertain 
night.
  My phone rang at 5 a.m. this past Friday morning, and it was my 
friend, Chief Mike McGowan, the county's police chief--his voice 
weighted down with grief. It was the worst news I have ever received in 
public life.
  New Castle County had only lost one previous officer in a line-of-
duty death when CPL Paul Sweeney was in a traffic accident nearly 40 
years ago in 1972, but never had an officer been murdered in the line 
of duty. Each year, as county executive, when I attended our annual 
police memorial, we would quietly pray that we would never know this 
day.
  Just roughly 2 weeks earlier, Delaware had marked the second 
anniversary of the killing, in the line of duty, of another brave and 
decorated local police officer, Patrolman Chad Spicer of Georgetown. It 
was just too soon for this to have happened again. We all know there is 
risk--grave risk--in policing, but this could not have happened again. 
Delaware is a State of neighbors, and as a State we are still mourning 
Chad's death, and we could not possibly have lost another brave police 
officer. But we did. This Friday he will be laid to rest.
  My State is grieving. In the days that have passed, I have grappled 
with two questions. I have asked myself over and over: How is it that 
people continue to do these terrible and dangerous things? How is it 
that senseless violence continues to claim the lives of the innocent?
  As I spoke at the graduation ceremony this past Friday for the 
Delaware State Police and the Municipal Police Academy and looked at 
the young men and women who were right in front of me about to take 
their oath and put on their badge and take on, willingly, this most 
dangerous and honored profession, another question emerged to me: Why 
is it that we continue to have men and women who volunteer, who step 
forward, and who take on this most important and difficult task of 
preserving the peace, of protecting our communities? What more can we 
do to support them, to protect them, and to honor them?
  These are the questions I challenge all of us to consider.
  SGT Joe Szczerba was on the New Castle County police force for 18 
years. He was greatly respected by his colleagues on the force and in 
the community he served. His wife Kathy; his brothers Ed, Gerald, and 
Stephen; his sisters Nancy and Karen and a host of nieces and nephews 
survive him.
  Today, Heaven is a safer place because Joe Szczerba is on patrol. He 
was a good man and a great cop, and he died a hero. He died doing what 
he was called to do, and he died doing what he loved to do. For that, 
all of Delaware is grateful. We will treasure his memory and honor his 
sacrifice.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coons). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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