Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Education is what you have left over after you have forgotten everything you have learned. You learned your lessons well at the Police Academy, Officer Cook and you never shied away from trouble. Because of your composure and calming voice, you were able to appease the hard-hearted. They simply do not make officers who have eclectic skills needed in our streets today. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition. POlic ework is not a competition, maybe on the practice range to see who scores a higher number in shooting. One thing for sure, you better mak real sure you know what you are doing because we still have ha dtoo many shooting accidents that led to an officer losing their life. I'm sure Officer Cook, you were a careful and a master marksman. You were trained for every type of problem that might arise and you handled them with grace. When dealing with a dilemma, you perhaps had to analyze what was necessary to bring about a peaceful solution to the problem at hand. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

There is no question what the roll of honor in America is. The roll of honor consists of th enames of both men and women who have squared their conduct by ideals of duty. Your professional conduct and dignity combined with integrity, Officer Cook is both etched and inscribed on walls of honor at Tropical Park in Miami, where each year since May of 1979, they hold the annual Dade County Police Memorial to honor you and your fellow comrades whose bravery and courage is so very personified. In our nation's capital, Washinton, D. C. it is also placed in the National Police Memorial. There and the White House are two places I'd like to visit and witness the names of all who exposed their life for their country and community. You were all a cut above the rest. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

There is no evil that we cannot face or fly from, but the consciousness of duty disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omnipresent, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed or duty violated is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yer within us. Your job, Officer Cook, required you to serve at all times an dunder all different atmospheric conditions. But no doubt you stayed brave and gallant to the end. Rest in peac emy neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

Make a point to do something everyday that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. I think you did most things in your life, Officer Cook because of your wonderful upbringing by your parents and you knew it was the right thing to do. You stopped by after your shift most days to check on your mother's welfare, something we should all try to emulate. You were that special kind of individual. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

The duty of man...is plain and simple and consists of two points. His duty to God, which every person must feel if they believe in Our Creator and with respect to his neighbor, to do as he would be done by. You did right by all citizens, Officer Cook and never let them down. God called a beautiful human being to be among His guardian angels and now as you rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero, you face a more eternal mission: To watch over those men and women who took an oath to serve and protect as vigorously as you did.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

Let us have faith that right makes right and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. We all comprehend that you dared, officer Cook, to go where most would not venture to go. Healthy fear is a rational statement and you let God and your solemn beliefs steer you in and out of danger that exposes officers to possible trouble. Your loyalty surely won't be forgotten. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and her. What better fate for a man or women to give their lives in the performance of their official duties?

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less. All of these characteristics applied to your service time, Officer Cook. You always and for all times had the good of the public ahead of your own personal agenda. This should be the motto for all officers and unfortunately for some dereliction begins to creep in and rear its ugly head. Your department always salutes its finest and you were that my neighbor, friend and hero. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little mor eto his country, than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger. You certainly were brave and courageous, Officer Cook. Others might have left that scene to the officers dispatched, you my neighbor, friend and hero were attentive and did as must as was humanly possible to bring about a more dignified conclusion to a very tragic episode. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

In the midst of doubt, in the collapse of creeds, there is one thing I do not doubt, that no man who lives in the same world with most of us can doubt and that is that the faith is true and adorable which leads a soldier to throw away his life in obedience to a blindly accepted duty, in a cause which he little understands, in a plan of campaign of which he has no notion, under tactics of which he does not see the use. You saw, Officer Cook, how best to utilize your training and skill to help make us feel safer and more secure. Your basic instincts kicked in that fateful day and your were among the most bravest officers to save your comrades and those three civilians from further danger. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. There is and always will be no doubt that you carried out your abilities in a most supreme and humane manner.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, so near is God to man, when duty whispers low, thou must, the youth replies, I can. This was what you desired to become, officer Cook, since you were a boy scout and probably long before. You had the type of charisma needed to police Dade County and its streets. Never to be out of sight or out of our hearts and prayers. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. You always had the publice's trust in your mind, Officer Cook, when you went out on patrol and this is what made you the officer that was confident in his abilities. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 12, 2013

For it's always fair weather when good fellows get together with a stein on the table and a good song ringing clear. I know your friends and fellow officers miss this day being able to break bread with you, Officer Cook and raise a glass of wine to toast to good health, peace and prosperity. As some of your colleagues reflected, it's a tragedy you cannot be with us. But they will always remember your warmth, compassion and congeniality. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 11, 2013

It is only when mind and character slumber that the dress can be seen. If officers do not live up to their solemn and professional responsibilities, then they make all other officers look bad and cause dishonor to their departments. You wore your uniform very proudly, Officer Cook. You were the pride of the Metro-Dade Police Department. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 11, 2013

Your family knows Officer Cook that if there is anything that I may be of help to them, they call reach me. I'll always try to be there for your special family. Officers like yourself do not fall upon us everyday. We shall not, I believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting. Police work is not like medicine in the sense that if you knew something is wrong, you just cannot stand by and do nothing. You were the consummate professional, Officer Cook, who contributed mightily to your department and to its community. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 11, 2013

We may well be unable to afford to be the world's policeman, but neither can we afford to fail to live up to the responsibilities that the accidents of a bountiful land and beneficent fate have placed upon us. because of your heroic actions, Officer Cook, we are able to live a bountiful life filled with all the pleasures that God can bestow upon us. You will never be forgotten my neighbor, friend and hero. If we as citizens can live up to half of your capabilities, we should be able to overcome the evil that pervades society. Rest in peace. Officers can never be compensated enough for what they represent and possibly have to surrender in order to secure our freedom.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 11, 2013

The longest day must have its close-the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night and the night of the just to an eternal day. That first night and day after an officer loses their life on duty is undoubtedly the longest, saddest time for their family, fellow officers and friends. But it is fine to mourn and be tearful, to remember how not only they performed, but how heroically they carried on in life. Officer Cook, your family and forty-one other Metro-Dade families all share this burden of grief and it is up to your department and community to console them and help ease them if you can ever say that word in that context. We all share your family's anguish, sorrow, burden and they know as we know that your soul is now resting in peace my neighbor, friend and hero in God's shelter where He looks after you as you so solemnly watch over us.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of others much is expected. The generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny. And indeed, Officer Cook, we don't know our last day. officers, anyone who sweats, labors and toils on our behalf never knows when their day of joining God will occur. You were one of God's talented servants who was granted the years you had to perform special wonders for His people and you served with only distinction and the integrity that can only unify a community like no other officer can do. The mystery of life always fascinates me, my neighbor, friend and hero, Officer Cook. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have met some of your beloved family members. They like you and your parents will always have a special place in my heart that is reserved for them. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

The thirst for adventure is the vent which destiny offers; a war, a crusade, a gold mine, a new country, speak to the imagination and offer swing and play to the confined powers. All of the above, Officer Cook was for you and Karen to enjoy and for your families to spend quiet times gathered together during the holidays. But your zeal for contentment in a civil and humane manner superceded all of the above. You always went out of your way to pursue what was deemed proper and fitting to modern society. Bravery and valor come together to form a true bond that can never be broken. Stretched a little but never snapped in half. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. Your destiny Officer Cook, was to respond to a call without be told to do so and for this you are to be highly commended. You chanced your very being as all police officers do to help pacify and to calm a young man down and convince him to surrender peacefully without being harmed. You and your colleagues used tact and your training to do as much as you possibly could. If things did not go so wrong in that instance, we may never know, but your courage and valor from that day forward will forever standout among your comrades before you who too laid down their lives in the pursuit of truth and justice. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor. Democracy may give a person the right to bear arms, but not the right to commit murder of a law enforcement officer or officers and the freedom to willfully obstruct justice the way they see fit. Police officers have to exercise when to act with their weapons and when to step back and assess the situation. Officer Cook, you exercised the greatest restraint I can think of, but you knew exactly how to respond to assist your fellow officers and the civilians who were threatened by a man who thought violence was honorable which of course it never will be. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

Henceforward, listen as we will, the voices of that breath are still; look where we may, the wide earth o'er those lighted faces smile no more....We turn the pages that they read, their written words we linger o'er, but in the sun they cast no shade, no voice is heard, no sign is made, no step is on the conscious floor! Yet love will dream and faith will trust since He who knows our need is just, that somehow, somewhere, meet we must. We will meet you once again, my neighbor, friend and hero, Officer Cook. We turn the page, but we keep returning to the why part of it. Why did God call for you that day? What will we do without your physical being guiding us each step of the way? One answer is your cherished soul now serves as our compass leading us to new adventures, higher heights and mountains too steep to climb. We may not see your gorgeous smile, but we still can feel the warmth that exuded from your cheerful spirit. Rest in peace.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

On fame's eternal camping ground their silent tents are spread and glory guards, with solemn round, the bivouac of the dead. Your sacred burial site, Officer Cook, is for all to visit and leave a note or something to honor you by. Your fortitude was indeed marvelous and your outstanding character was beyond reproach. You served with loyalty and enabled us to have a new lease on life. Just wished officers as brave as you could receive a new lease on life. God now grants you eternal life so that your soul may travel wherever it deems necessary. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero. each person is born to one last possession which outvalues all the others-his last breath and yours, Officer Cook, was spent in doing honorable and praiseworthy situations.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

At end of love, at end of life, at end of hope, at end of strife, at end of all we cling to so-the sun is setting-must we go? At dawn of love, at dawn of life, at dawn of peace that follows strife, at dawn of all we long for so-the sun is rising-let us go. Officer Cook, I'm sure you would want to be here and we all wished you were to be with your beloved wife, Karen, your mother, sister and all your family members watching the beautiful sunrise and sunsets. Snapping off pictures of nature and all that is good in this world. You were that dignified officer who preserved life and helped deliver life into the world. Your gallantry shows us that men and women like yourself do make a difference in how we conduct ourselves. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013

Death, however, is a spongy wall, is a sticky river, is nothing at all. Of course when someone you know and love, admire and respect passes suddenly, the eyes well up and and a flood of tears comes pouring out and this is exactly what transpired when you left us, Officer Cook. Giving your being back to God who brought you into this world to do just what He planned for you to do and this is to serve, protect and defend our freedoms so liberty and justice for all could be achieved. There is not anything more nobler, more heroic, than to lay your life down so we can continue living our lives as we choose. Police officers don't always get to choose these things. Your twenty-five years were lived in a most prolific and productive manner. Rest in peace my neighbor, friend and hero.

Rabbi Lewis S. Davis

June 10, 2013