U.S. Sen. Cornyn speaks at CLEAT Convention

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn spoke at the 43rd annual Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas Convention held at the City of San Marcos Conference Center at Embassy Suites. 

Cornyn addressed the conference Saturday as CLEAT gave out Officer of the Year awards to 19 officers. 

“I want to recognize all of you who serve in uniform each and every day to put yourself in harm's way to leave your loved ones in the morning never knowing exactly what the day will deliver,” Cornyn said during his keynote address. “I know you could have chosen a different career path — one that was way less dangerous, had better hours and more time with your families. You could have spent your time safely tucked away in a nice air conditioned office building, and certainly there are other jobs you can do where you wouldn't have to wear a bulletproof vest all day long. But in my book, you took the higher road a higher path and answered the call to serve your communities, our state and our country. And I salute you for that.”

Among one of the 19 Officer of the Year award recipients was Mark Campos of the El Paso Police Department, who responded to the Walmart shooting on Aug. 3, where 22 died. 

“There’s a lot of officers who went into that store and saw some pretty gruesome things that you’re not accustomed to seeing on a day-to-day basis,” said Sgt. Ron Martin, who presented Campos the award. “You can’t be trained for that but they did their job.”

Campos, who grew up in El Paso, said it’s humbling to receive the award. 

“I honestly, I didn’t expect this,” said Campos, who’s worked with the El Paso Police Department for 19 years. “It’s a very humbling award. I appreciate it. You know, (I) just work for the community and I just feel very honored that I’m representing El Paso, and I’m very humbled by this. I want to thank everybody for this. It feels really good.”  

Closing out his keynote, Cornyn said he will continue to receive advice and counsel from law enforcement as he heads back to Washington D.C.

“When it comes to addressing the challenges that we’re facing across the county, we’ve got a lot to do in Washington,” Cornyn said. “We’ve got a lot to do in Austin. But I’m going to follow your lead and I’m not going to quit either.”