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Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the service and sacrifice of Greensboro Police Officer Sergeant Philip Dale Nix.

Before the start of the new year, Sergeant Nix was off duty at a local gas station when he witnessed three individuals stealing alcohol. Of course, we know there is really no such thing as being off duty for a brave law enforcement officer who took the oath to protect and serve. So Sergeant Nix's instincts kicked in immediately. He approached the suspects as the crime was taking place, and they responded by shooting him.

Another off-duty officer, a Guilford County paramedic, tried to render him aid. His wounds were fatal, though; and he passed away shortly thereafter at the hospital.

Sergeant Nix embodied the very best of law enforcement. He was a consummate professional, a good and decent person, and was beloved by the community of Greensboro.

It should come as no surprise that Sergeant Nix, like so many other officers, comes from a family with a long legacy of public service. In this case, it included public service at the Greensboro Fire Department, where his father was a captain, his uncle was an assistant chief, and his brother currently serves as a firefighter.

Sergeant Nix worked for the Greensboro Police Department for 22 years and had a distinguished record of service. He worked as a criminal investigations division detective; a patrol corporal; a patrol sergeant; a police training officer; a financial crimes detective; and, most recently, as a supervisor of the family victims unit. As one detective of the Greensboro Police Department noted:

Sergeant Nix was the Family Victims Unit. The amount of work, and dedication that he put into his career and into the community to protect vulnerable communities, and protect innocent people [was] unmatched.

For as impressive as Sergeant Nix was for his exemplary work in uniform, it was his job as a family man--a loving husband, a father, and son--that made him the man he was.

As the Greensboro city council member Zack Matheny put it:

[Sergeant Nix] cared about this community . . . and he loved his family 10 times more than he [even] loved this community. So I hope that they can feel his arms wrapped around them.

Sergeant Nix upheld his oath to protect and serve even when he wasn't in uniform. He exemplified what it means to be an exceptional law enforcement officer, and he made the ultimate sacrifice.

My deepest condolences go out to Sergeant Nix's family for their tremendous loss, and my condolences go out to the community of Greensboro, which lost one of their finest and most decent public servants.

We should never--and I will never--forget his service.

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