Tribute to Officer John Watson

TRIBUTE TO OFFICER JOHN WATSON

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, this evening, in a candlelight vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial on Judiciary Square, thousands of law enforcement officers from all corners of our Nation will come together. Many will be accompanied by their spouses, some by their children. Law enforcement is truly a family business.

Tonight, we will come together to honor 362 heroes whose names were inscribed on that marble wall last month. These heroes are law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Mr. President, 145 of those officers lost their lives just last year.

I rise this morning to pay tribute to the men and women whose names are inscribed on that wall. I rise to lend my support to their survivors and to their colleagues.

The 362 individuals we will honor tonight were each distinct individuals. Together, they represent all of the diversity that is America. Together, they shared a commitment to service that is central to the tradition of American law enforcement.

This commitment to service means spending Christmas Day in the patrol car instead of with family. It means working on your spouse's birthday, checking on the welfare of others.

The officer's name is John Patrick Watson. On Christmas Day, 2003, he went to work, leaving behind his beloved wife Kathy on her birthday, to do the job he loved, which was protecting the people of Kenai, AK. That had been his job for 18 years.

That Christmas night, answering a call for a "welfare check," Officer Watson would become the first member of the Kenai Police Department to lose his life in the line of duty.

Officer Watson was shot to death with his own weapon, allegedly by the individual on whose welfare he was checking.

The individuals who will be remembered this evening at the memorial are regarded as heroes, not for the way they died but for the way they lived. So let us not dwell on how Officer Watson lost his life but on the way he lived it.

During the memorial services in the city of Kenai, Chief Chuck Kopp recounted another call, 3 years earlier, which began with the words: "My name is Officer Watson and I am here to help."

Officer Watson was responding to aid a woman who almost died from a sleeping pill overdose. The woman, writing after Officer Watson's tragic death, stated that she did not remember much of what had occurred that night, but the peace she felt as his unshaken voice reached her is something she will never forget.

The woman whose life Officer Watson saved, ironically, never had an opportunity to thank him during his lifetime. In a letter that was read during Officer Watson's memorial service, the woman wrote:

Please know that with every breath I take, I thank you. . . . I will make every day count. Your time and energy were not wasted.

I never had the opportunity to meet Officer John Watson. It is troubling to me that in spite of his many good works, only in death have his many contributions been recognized on the Senate floor.

So to Kathy, to John's children, and to the members of his family in Michigan, I say that John Watson's time and energy were certainly not wasted. He trained nearly every member of the Kenai Police Department. He was a pillar of the community, devoted to his church and to God, a bear of a man with a smile for everyone.

John Watson was an Alaskan by choice rather than by birth, but he will remain forever in our hearts as a true Alaskan hero. For in valor, there is hope.

I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.