Law enforcement was changed forever on 9/11

MANATEE -- As the events of 9/11 unfolded, many Americans, first-responders included, were uncertain about what was going on, what would happen next and why it was happening.

Bradenton Beach Police Chief Sam Speciale recalls receiving numerous calls that day from residents who were trying to piece everything together, as did other departments.

A decade later, police and fire agencies across the country have received training in things such as weapons of mass destruction.

“That’s something in 2001 that was just unheard of,” Holmes Beach Police Chief Jay Romine said. “You never thought about that kind of thing. It just opened up a whole different world of training that we knew was necessary, and it’s training that you hopefully go through an entire career and never use any of it. But we know it’s necessary we have it.”

Since 9/11, there has been a better flow of information among agencies, Romine said.

He and other local officials meet with FBI agents and other officials on a regular basis as part of the Regional Domestic Security Task Force to receive training and review procedures and intelligence.

“Homeland Security is involved, the FBI is involved and everyone goes to the meeting and sits around and shares any information they might have,” Romine said. “That situation that happened in New York City ... showed that anyone is vulnerable. It can happen absolutely anywhere.”

The meetings give better insight, Speciale said.

“They are constantly offering training, and it’s the training we need,” he said.

Local law enforcement agencies have also developed a better system to communicate with each other if an major event should occur, and they have a command system in place that outlines who takes charge of a scene, among other things.

“Otherwise you are out there making the rules as you go along,” Romine said. “Without that training it would be confusion of responsibility and who’s in charge of what.”

At the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, they have received a bomb suit, night vision goggles, underwater communication devices and other equipment through grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“The biggest help is knowing if Washington gets a credible threat in the Tampa area we could respond, or coordinate a response, if we need to,” Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube said.

Other agencies have received hazmat suits, and law enforcement officers have gone through counterterrorism training.

Changes in operations have not just affected law enforcement, but firefighters as well.

Chief Randy Stulce of Cedar Hammock Fire Rescue recalls watching the World Trade Center towers fall and knowing immediately that lives of his fellow firefighters had been lost.

“I knew we lost some brothers,” Stulce said. “I knew where they were in the building trying to rescue people.”

He said he immediately called other fire officials and told them to lower their flags to half-staff.

“We are safer now than 10 years ago,” said Stulce, adding there is always room for improvement. “

You plan for certain things.”

Fire departments have upgraded their equipment, such as hazmat suits and breathing gear, and they also run drills on how they would react in different scenarios.

“We practice on things like that,” said Capt. Tom Woods, training director for the City of Bradenton Fire Department. “We did a class on building collapse rescue; it’s all rescue stuff.”

He reminds other firefighters to always be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary -- when they are running drills or out in the real world.

“You have to know if something looks suspicious or out of place,” Woods said. “There is that unknown. You know something like that could come, so you take it for what it’s worth.”

Another piece of equipment the Bradenton Fire Department got through a grant from Homeland Security is a heavy rescue truck, which Woods calls a “big toolbox.”

The truck has material on it that helps firefighters respond to major events, such as serious traffic crashes or mass casualty incidents.

“We’ve come a long way,” Woods said. “What 9/11 did is it scared us enough to be ready for whatever.”

One of the biggest helps to law enforcement and firefighters alike is the public has been more responsive and more willing to report suspicious activity.

“It increases after there is an occurrence,” Romine said. “I think people are much more mindful and they’re much more aware of what’s going on around them.”

He stressed people not be paranoid, but to be aware and prepared.

“Whether it’s a terrorist or a burglar, we want to know,” he said. “The best thing we have going for us are people in the community who are suspicious -- and the people who are not only suspicious but do something about it and call us. We’d rather go out 100 times and have it be nothing than not go and have it be something.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Law enforcement was changed forever on 9/11."