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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E302-E303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN RECOGNITION OF MARK O'CONNOR
______
HON. JACKIE SPEIER
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor Hillsborough Police Chief
Mark O'Connor upon the occasion of his retirement after a total of 33
years in law enforcement, 32 of those years with the Town of
Hillsborough. Chief O'Connor is an uncommon law enforcement
professional, and the residents of Hillsborough have been
extraordinarily lucky to have his services for over three decades.
Hillsborough is a town of 11,500 persons nestled in the hills of the
San Francisco Peninsula. Mark O'Connor joined the police department of
this beautiful town in 1986 after serving for a year in the Santa Clara
County Sheriff's Office. He began as a Police Officer and then served
as Canine Officer, Motorcycle Officer, Field Training Officer, Police
Corporal, Press Information Officer, Patrol Sergeant, Administrative
Captain, Patrol Captain and, finally, as the Chief of Police. However,
Mark is a highly talented person, and for a while the town also tapped
him to be Public Works Director. Apparently, he enjoyed catching
burglars more than fixing broken sewer mains, so that stint was
relatively short-lived.
Chief O'Connor served on a committee of the San Mateo County Police
Chiefs' and Sheriffs Association working on technology issues and was
responsible for upgrading Hillsborough's department to take advantage
of computers in patrol cars, officer body cameras, and Computer Aided
Dispatch equipment, among many innovations. During Mark's time in
charge, Hillsborough residents were protected by the latest technology
available.
As an institutional source of ``lessons learned'' for the department,
Mark excels. For example, he once pointed out that making it easier to
navigate a community isn't necessarily good for public safety. Among
its many features, Hillsborough is a hard place to navigate at night
without a lot of experience. Many pizzas have gone cold in the hills of
Hillsborough. Burglars would also occasionally get lost. They would
then meander repeatedly through the town seeking frantically to escape.
The police would notice, and the thieves would become future candidates
to make public endorsements on behalf of the Google Maps app for smart
phones--after they were released from jail and subject to any
applicable terms of probation. This story illustrates Mark's wisdom
from years of on-the-ground experience. He is a walking library of such
lessons.
Mark O'Connor has many obvious skills. He is respected by his staff
because he is authentic. He mentors others with ease. He is smart
[[Page E303]]
and has what the military calls ``command presence.'' My office works
regularly with him on security issues that impact my office and the
broader community. He is a rock-solid source of advice, even outside
his formal job duties.
For example, in 2010, a 30-inch high pressure natural gas
transmission pipeline operated by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company
exploded in San Bruno, north of Hillsborough, killing eight persons and
injuring dozens more. Mark O'Connor is a master welder. Through the
months after the explosion, he lent his judgments to my staff and to
federal and state officials as they sought the cause of the rupture. He
also noticed the vulnerability of Hillsborough and other cities to a
similar disaster. In part because of his recommendations to me and to
others, new pipes have been installed. Thousands have been removed from
the path of possible harm, in part due to the insights lent by Chief
Mark O'Connor.
It is Chief O'Connor's integrity, grit, and determination to be of
service to all law-abiding residents that has been the secret to his
success. It's hard to imagine a man with such an active mind sitting
still. Maybe, he'll write a book about his years in law enforcement.
Hillsborough is visited regularly by Presidents, Ambassadors and other
global leaders. Mark's career-based police thriller might be entitled,
``I Saw The President--But He Never Saw Me.'' It's likely that many
citizens and luminaries never saw Mark O'Connor, but we know that he
had their backs all along their way through the community. This, in the
end, is the highest mark of police service in any town--no flash, just
skill and professionalism. That's Mark O'Connor, the retiring Chief of
Police of Hillsborough, California.
____________________
