[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20215-20216]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN VIRGINIA'S 10TH DISTRICT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 15, 2015

  Mrs. COMSTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the following 
law enforcement personnel who have recently been honored at the 11th 
Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Dinner in my district for their 
invaluable service and commitment to our communities. I submit the 
following excerpts from a speech delivered by Mr. Jim Wink, who spoke 
at this event in the fall. This year's honorees are Officer Dustin 
Bowers of the Mount Weather Police Department, Officer William McCann 
of the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center, Deputy Shane 
Jewell of the Clarke County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Mackenzie Carter 
of the Winchester City Sheriff's Office, Deputy Aaron Jeter of the 
Frederick County Sheriff's Office, Laura Patten of the Berryville 
Police Department, Corporal Richie Lewis O'Connor of Winchester Police 
Department, Trooper Terry Hilliker of the Virginia Department of State 
Police, and DEA Special Agent Thomas Hickey of the Northwest Virginia 
Regional Drug Task Force.

       Officer Dustin Bowers has continually displayed the highest 
     degree of competence, esprit de corps, and dedication to the 
     mission at Mount Weather. He routinely goes above and beyond 
     to perform his duties as a police officer, and in doing so, 
     improves the Mount Weather department. Officer Bowers, 
     without hesitation, took on the responsibility of serving as 
     the field training officer for new officers. This year, 
     Officer Bowers was selected to attend the federal law 
     enforcement training center's active shooter instructor 
     course. Since completing the course, Officer Bowers has 
     worked to improve the department's capability to respond to 
     an active shooter incident. He is currently developing an 
     active shooter training program for Mount Weather emergency 
     operation center employees focused on teaching them how to 
     react to shooting incidents in the work place and other 
     public locations. Officer Bowers also, through his own 
     initiative, researched and proposed new equipment that the 
     department purchased, which improved police officer readiness 
     at all levels. Mount Weather Police Department can think of 
     no finer officer more deserving of recognition.
       Officer William McCann is the head of the field training 
     officer program, a CPR instructor, training officer, and 
     constant mentor at the detention center in Winchester. He has 
     been nominated and will be the recipient of two life-saving 
     awards. In addition to these two critical incidents, Officer 
     McCann's impact is present on a daily basis. He is one of the 
     most respected and influential staff members in the detention 
     center which accounts for nearly 200 employees. Officer 
     McCann's wealth of knowledge comes from over 20 years of 
     experience in the Maryland department of corrections where he 
     served as a lieutenant.
       Deputy Shane Jewell joined the Clarke County Sheriff's 
     Office in 2009. He is a respected instructor at the 
     Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy, where he 
     teaches defensive tactics. Deputy Jewell supports the mission 
     of this office and is the epitome of a team player. Deputy 
     Jewell's hard work and dedication to the Clarke County 
     community is valuable.
       Deputy Mackenzie Carter joined the Winchester City 
     Sheriff's Office only a year ago; however, in a short time, 
     she has displayed her dedication to the office and her team. 
     She exerts a strong ability to assist others and volunteers 
     for extra duties at the sheriff's office. Deputy Carter has 
     the willingness to take on difficult projects and see them to 
     a successful completion, which has repeatedly impressed the 
     sheriff over the past year. Deputy Carter has also shown that 
     she is dedicated to going above and beyond in serving her 
     community. She has participated in and started several 
     community-based fundraising events and community service 
     incentives, such as the CCAP food drive, Evans Home for 
     Children food drive, the Winchester Literacy Foundation 
     summer reading program.
       While on patrol one evening, Deputy Aaron Jeter, observed a 
     speeding violator. He made the decision to stop the vehicle 
     for the violation. With the assistance from other deputies; 
     Deputy Jeter was able to recover a large amount of heroin 
     from under the vehicle. The total amount seized from the 
     traffic stop was 261 individual packets of heroin and over 
     $400.00 in cash. Following this seizure, Deputy Jeter 
     continued his increased effort to combat the local heroin 
     epidemic, which plagues our community. Deputy Jeter's work 
     against the local heroin problem is truly noteworthy. The 
     efforts of deputies, like Aaron Jeter, will help curb the 
     amount of heroin related overdoses and deaths, which our 
     community has recently faced. Deputy Jeter's outstanding work 
     with these cases makes him a worthy and deserving candidate 
     for this year's HSCBA award.
       Laura Patten serves the Berryville Police Department as the 
     sole civilian employee in the capacity of administrative 
     assistant. She began working for the department in August of 
     1989 and is looking forward to her upcoming retirement in 
     2016. Early in her career she served as a crossing guard 
     making sure the children of the community made their way 
     safely to school and back home. In the office, Laura keeps 
     the flow of communication working between the community and 
     officers in the field. Indeed, she is the face and voice of 
     the department working the front desk and answering the 
     phones. It is often an

[[Page 20216]]

     under-appreciated function that Laura provides to the 
     department. Berryville PD Chief Neal White states he is very 
     thankful that she is getting the credit she truly deserves.
       Corporal Richie Lewis of Winchester responded to a violent 
     kidnapping last year that involved a male holding a knife to 
     the throat of a female. Lewis helped to neutralize the 
     situation with the help of his team. Upon seeing the officers 
     the suspect became agitated, so the officers withdrew from 
     the building out of fear the suspect would harm the female. 
     When the suspect shut the hall door Cpl. Lewis reentered the 
     building and snuck up to the landing on the third floor. 
     While Cpl. Lewis was approaching the landing, with gun drawn, 
     the suspect reopened the door. Out of fear of shooting the 
     female Cpl. Lewis transitioned from his pistol to his Taser. 
     When the suspect gave Cpl. Lewis an opening between the 
     female's body and his own, Cpl. Lewis was able to shoot the 
     suspect with his Taser and incapacitate him, bringing the 
     situation to a quick and effective resolution.
       Trooper Hilliker handles all traffic and criminal matters 
     with professionalism and personal pride. He continues to take 
     on the extra responsibility of being an explosive
     K-9 handler on top of his other duties. Trooper Hilliker's 
     dedication to the department and the citizens it serves is 
     unmatched. 2001-2002 Winchester Police Department, 1997-1999 
     Muskego Police Department Muskego, WI. Terry Hilliker served 
     as a member of the Winchester and Muskego Police Departments 
     as a patrolman where he was tasked with a multitude of 
     responsibilities and challenges when working in local law 
     enforcement. The experience Terry learned during this time is 
     evident in his current role as a trooper. Terry Hilliker 
     started his service related professions with the United 
     States Marine Corps (1976-1996). He served in various 
     command, staff and administrative billets from the platoon, 
     company, and battalion levels to the regimental, brigade, and 
     division level. Terry retired from the Marine Corps with the 
     rank of lieutenant colonel.
       DEA Special Agent Thomas Hickey is a contributing member of 
     the Northwest Virginia Regional Drug Task Force and assists 
     members of the force with numerous narcotics cases annually. 
     Special Agent Hickey has been and continues to be a major 
     supporting federal entity essential to fighting the current 
     heroin epidemic. Special Agent Hickey has been instrumental 
     in numerous local heroin cases by providing intelligence 
     information, identifying major Baltimore, Maryland heroin 
     suppliers and arresting and prosecuting large scale Baltimore 
     heroin distributors who have plagued our communities. Special 
     Agent Hickey is a dedicated law enforcement professional who 
     believes in the working relationships between state, local 
     and federal law enforcement agencies. He continues to provide 
     an expert element to the drug task force that is necessary in 
     combating the drug epidemics that plague our communities. 
     Special Agent Hickey responds to active drug overdoses and 
     assists agents by providing support and advice. He prefers to 
     be involved in local drug cases from the beginning, and often 
     responds to and assists local agents at all hours of the day 
     and night. In 2014 special Agent Hickey initiated, 
     investigated, and prosecuted fourteen large scale federal 
     heroin investigations all of which were directly related to 
     the Winchester, Frederick and Clarke county communities.

                          ____________________