Bill Bennett: “I wish to make a personal comment about the tragedy that occurred in this building on Friday and add my voice to those…”

“I wish to make a personal comment about the tragedy that occurred in this building on Friday and add my voice to those that have been raised in tribute to the professionalism, the courage, and the compassion of the members of the Capitol Police Force. I remember, when I first came to Washington as an intern in 1950 as a student from the university, the Capitol Police Force was affectionately referred to as the ``campus cops.'' It was a patronage job, and people who served on the Capitol Police Force in those days were appointed by their Senators. Usually, they were law students who were going to school at George Washington University that taught the entire curriculum at night. So the Capitol Police could earn their way through law school by sitting at their various stations in the Capitol during the daytime and taking their classes at night. One of the more prominent attorneys in Salt Lake City got his law degree that way and said he did all of his studying at his desk as a Capitol policeman and commented, ``If I had ever been called upon to draw my weapon, I wouldn't have known what to do. I would have been scared to death if anybody had ever confronted me in my position as a policeman.'' That was the situation 40, 45 years ago.…”