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Patrick Burke on the toughest thing he ever had to do in his career ~\n\n"Tell somebody that their child or their husband or wife or a loved one wasn't coming home because of a traffic fatality. And that's 100% preventable. It still is, these incidents, and there's so much more we can continue to do to make sure that people aren't drunk driving or paying attention to what they're doing on the roads."\n\nPatrick Burke - Executive Director Washington DC Police Foundation and host Andy Ockershausen during in-studio interview\n\nAndy Ockershausen:\tThis is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town. I'm so, so, so happy for a lot of reasons to welcome a very important man in the city of Washington and Our Town, a public servant. I mean, he has been in the police department or connected with it for 27 years on the force. But even since he left the force he's been still in law enforcement. He's just a terrific guy, an important part of Our Town, and a member of the ... He was [sic] the Executive Director at the Washington DC Police Foundation. Pat Burke, welcome to Our Town.\nPatrick Burke:\tThanks, Andy. Good to be here.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tYou have been amazing to me in all the things I've seen you do over the years. I remember you in uniform, I remember when you started wearing neckties like the rest of us. Now, none of us wear ties anymore, Pat. Isn't that great?\nPatrick Burke:\tIt is great. It's nice to not have to worry about that every day.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tBut you always dressed like $1 million, and you had that clean white shirt. and I wouldn't say this unless she was here. I would have loved to have Cathy Lanier. I know you worked close with Cathy. She was such a big, important part of Our Town because of what she did.\nPatrick Burke:\tAnd she's back in town pretty regularly. Her mom still lives out in Maryland, so ...\nAndy Ockershausen:\tShe had a house in Maryland, I know.\nPatrick Burke:\tShe still does, so she's still back in town pretty regularly, and she'll actually be at an event in December back in DC. So glad to hear she's doing well with the NFL, and we're glad to have Chief Newsham here, as well.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tWell, Cherrie Doggett is having a cocktail Christmas party, and I'm sure she's invited. Cathy was always there, and we got to know her through Bud, as we got to know the police department. But Pat, you're a New Yorker. Not from Buffalo, but from Rochester.\nPatrick Burke Hails from Rochester, New York\nPatrick Burke:\tAs I tell my wife, who's from New York, New York I'm from the real part of New York, Western New York. And most of my family is still Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse. But I have to say, as much as I love them, there's six inches of snow right now in Rochester, and I'll see my mom and dad in the spring.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tYeah, but it'll be gone by July.\nPatrick Burke:\tBy usually March. I remember Lake Ontario was frozen through St. Patrick's day.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tYeah, they close the lakes off, and everything up there was frozen. But Pat, how did you end up in the police department? You went to school in New York in the State University of New York?\nIn 1989, Burke Chose DC Police Department over Law School\nPatrick Burke:\tYep, I did my undergrad at University of Buffalo, started grad school up there, actually came down to look at American University in DC, law school, and one of my good buddies was working vice for the second district. They said, "Pat, save money. Join the PD." It was the height of the crack epidemic in 1989, so he said, "Come on down and save some money." So I joined the police department. I fell in love with it, and 27 years later I woke up and I had a great career, and my last nine as Assistant Chief.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tWell, it's not over. You've still got a great career. But what you're doing is great for the police department and great for Washington PD, but your wife, you say from the other New York, she's a New Yorker? A Long Islander?