The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING UNDERSHERIFF MICHAEL G. McCABE
______
HON. ELISSA SLOTKIN
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Ms. SLOTKIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Undersheriff Michael McCabe as he retires from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office after 44 years of service.
Born and raised in Bloomfield Township, Mike's lifelong dream was to become a police officer. When he was a young child, he had been riding in the car with his mother and brother when they were involved in a traffic accident. Although thankfully no one was seriously injured, Undersheriff McCabe still remembers the Bloomfield Township police officer that came to take a statement in the hospital.
That seminal memory stuck with him as he attended Brother Rice High School alongside future Sheriff Mike Bouchard, and later, when he graduated from Michigan State University in 1977. Just four months after earning his degree, Undersheriff McCabe joined the Oakland County Sheriff's Office--earning one of six spots out of 800 applicants. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, he's risen through the ranks, working in every division along the way--from patrol deputy to detective to substation commander to chief of staff to now undersheriff and chief deputy, the position he's held for nearly 18 years. As the senior official responsible for day-to-day operations, his latest duties have included managing more than 1,400 employees and overseeing the $165 million annual budget.
Undersheriff McCabe's commitment to his fellow officers is the stuff of legend. In 1982, while responding to an armed robbery, his partner was critically wounded with gunshots to the chest and left shoulder. Without a moment's hesitation, Undersheriff McCabe threw his fellow officer into the passenger's seat of their patrol car and drove him to Crittenton Hospital--undoubtedly saving his partner's life. Last year, when a routine doctor's visit discovered an issue that required him to go in for emergency surgery, he was reportedly answering emails and returning phone calls from his room in the hospital.
However, it is his actions in the last few weeks of his service that will serve as a lasting testament to Undersheriff McCabe's heroism. On November 30, 2021, when a 15-year-old student at Oxford High School opened fire on his classmates, Undersheriff McCabe was one of the first responders to arrive and he was on-site and in command as the senior officer in charge of the law enforcement mobilization. He and his fellow officers answered the call--more than 100 in total that were frantically placed to 911--and without waiting to set up a perimeter or assess the danger, they ran into the high school and apprehended the shooter before more lives were lost. As he had done before in his career, Undersheriff's McCabe's quick thinking saved lives. There is 110 question that there are teachers and students who are still here because of what he did and that his seasoned, experienced leadership helped mitigate and manage an unimaginable situation. For that, our community will forever be in his debt.
Madam Speaker, even before the tragedy at Oxford High School, Undersheriff McCabe deserved recognition from this chamber for his decades of service. That the coda to his career is a moment in the national spotlight, as the face of a grieving community, only deepens it.
Simply put, Undersheriff McCabe is the best of what Oxford, Michigan and Oakland County represents. There is nothing in the world that I wouldn't give for his recognition to be under different circumstances, and yet, it is a small comfort to know that, in this moment of incredible pain as we seek to pick up the pieces, he has been there as a steady hand and a guiding force for his fellow neighbors.
I rise today in profound thanks to Undersheriff Michael McCabe for 44 years of service, and in honor of his actions throughout his career, and especially his final acts on the force. I ask that my colleagues join me in wishing him and his wife, Rebecca, a well-deserved retirement.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 215
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