By Jason Crane –
Aurora Police Officer David Hornburg retired last week after 26 years. Hornburg has been the sergeant-at-arms at Aurora government meetings for approximately a decade.
He grew up in the Aurora area and recalled when he was a kid, he would ride his bike downtown and see Aurora cops walking the beats with their hats and nightsticks. He said you respected those guys, they were real peacekeepers. He felt the Aurora Police officers were his heroes and was lucky enough to grow up and work with his heroes.
Hornburg, a life-long Boy Scout leader and Eagle Scout, was graduated from West Aurora High School in 1987.
He said the most rewarding experiences were working with partner Shireen Long for nine years in publicly subsidized housing and establishing neighborhood community groups, being a long-term officer in downtown, and Blackwater certification training.
He said the biggest change in the job at the Aurora Police Department since he started has been the evolution of technology, including D.N.A., cell phones, computers in squad cars, tazers, instant fingerprint ability, G.P.S. (global positioning system), and K-9 dogs.
Hornburg served on the Association of Professional Police Officers union (A.P.P.O.) Board for 14 years and was a past president.
His other areas of service include:
Community Policing Unit for nine years, more than three years with Aurora Police Special Operations Group, 11 years as afternoon shift downtown Aurora, past board member of Aurora Historical Society, and West Aurora Cemetery Board member, and was graduated from Blackwater, master firearm instructor, field training officer, past firearms instructor at College of DuPage Suburban Law Enforcement Academy.
He plans on spending the Summer in Michigan at a second home with wife, Jen, and nine-year-old son, Charlie.