[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL POLICE WEEK

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, this week we welcome thousands of law 
enforcement officers for National Police Week 2015. It is a time to pay 
tribute to all the men and women who serve in Federal, State, and local 
law enforcement all across America. It is a good time for those of us 
who benefit from the shield of protection they provide--and actually, 
that is all of us--to express our gratitude.
  Police officers are here to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of 
justice and to honor fallen officers. We are proud to have them all 
here in Washington.
  I want to recognize especially the many men and women who protect and 
serve as peace officers in Kentucky. Today, I had the pleasure of 
meeting with some of Kentucky's finest. I want to thank them personally 
for courageously risking their lives in the service of people across 
the Commonwealth.


               honoring deputy sheriff ernest t. franklin

  Sadly, the occasion of National Police Week is also the time when we 
pay tribute to the brave and honorable peace officers who have fallen 
in the line of duty over the last year. So I want to remember and say a 
few words about Kentucky's own Deputy Sheriff Ernest T. Franklin, of 
the Barren County Sheriff's Office, who died on April 2, 2014.
  Deputy Sheriff Franklin was killed in an automobile crash on Kentucky 
Route 90, just west of Glasgow. He was 58 years old and had served with 
the sheriff's office for 7 years.
  Friends and coworkers recall him as a friendly man who always had a 
kind word for everyone. He worshipped at Hopewell Baptist Church, 
volunteered at the local community center and soup kitchen, and was, by 
all accounts, an excellent chef.
  Deputy Sheriff Franklin put his life on the line every day to protect 
his fellow Kentuckians. I want to extend my deepest condolences to his 
family and to all of those who knew and loved him.
  As Deputy Sheriff Ernest T. Franklin is mourned in Barren County, in 
Frankfort, the Kentucky State Police have created their own unique way 
to memorialize their fallen fellow officers. This week they unveiled a 
new statue called The Trooper, a figure of a Kentucky State Trooper 
cast in bronze and 10 feet tall, at the Kentucky State Police Academy.
  The statue is a tribute to members of the Kentucky State Police who 
have given their lives in the line of duty. That is 27 troopers and 
officers. It is quite an inspirational sight--a lone figure in uniform 
striding forward, ready to defend the property, dignity, and lives of 
his fellow Kentuckians.
  I know my colleagues in the Senate join me in holding the deepest 
admiration and respect for the many brave law enforcement officers 
across Kentucky and across the Nation. Theirs is both an honorable 
profession and a dangerous one. It is also a necessary one because the 
peace and order of a civil society that we all take for granted would 
not exist without them. Kentucky is grateful for our law enforcement 
officers' service, and we are grateful for the service of Deputy 
Sheriff Ernest T. Franklin.


                        National Blue Alert Act

  On a related note, I was proud to cosponsor and see to Senate passage 
this year of the National Blue Alert Act. The bill will establish a 
national Blue Alert system within the U.S. Department of Justice to 
help catch those criminals who kill, harm, or threaten law enforcement 
officers. The Blue Alert system will be similar to what the AMBER Alert 
system does for abducted children.
  Should law enforcement officers be killed, seriously injured, 
threatened or go missing while in the line of duty, this system would 
be utilized to widely disseminate information to help identify and 
apprehend potential suspects.
  Blue Alert will help bring to justice those who harm our police 
officers and hopefully help deter future violence. I was pleased to see 
that the House passed the bill earlier this week. With this bill, we 
will help protect those who put their lives on the line to protect us 
all.

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