Ted Poe: “Peace officers are really the last strand of wire in defense between the fox and the chickens. They are the ones that…”

“Peace officers are really the last strand of wire in defense between the fox and the chickens. They are the ones that stand between the lawful and the lawless. They protect us from outlaws. Sometimes, they do so without much appreciation from the public. Friday, about 11,000 people or more gathered for the funeral of Deputy Darren Goforth at the Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Many hundreds of others couldn't get in to any of the service. It was televised live on all four networks. Helicopters flew over during the service. It was hot, and people stood and gave appreciation to this man. He was married to Kathleen. They had two children, Ava and Ryan. Ava is 5, and Ryan is 12. He had been a Harris County deputy sheriff for 10 years. I guess every member of the sheriff's department was at that funeral. There were police officers from all over the United States there. There were some from Canada and the United Kingdom. I talked to a police officer from Connecticut who was in Houston for this funeral. He was stunned in a way of appreciation for the people and other peace officers that came for this man's funeral. It affected the whole community and still does to a great degree for a lot of reasons. In my other life, I was a prosecutor and a judge at the criminal courts building in Houston. I prosecuted people who killed peace officers, and I tried cases where peace officers had been killed when I was a judge.…”