President’s Message Fall 2011

Dear Friend,

As you read this magazine we will have just passed the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11.   This infamous day challenged our nation as a whole but was specifically devastating to the law enforcement commu-nity in our area. Many of us remember the events of that clear blue sky day as we watched in horror as those planes struck in NYC, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. Those images that our nation watched on television are ingrained in memory. It was the law enforcement officers however, that lived those images in reality. It was our brothers and sisters in blue along with the firefighters and EMS members that rushed into those towers and showed our nation that the title “the finest” isn’t just on monuments. That fateful day saw the largest loss of police officers in American history. As people ran from the attack in lower Manhattan police officers from the Port Author-ity NY/NJ Police De-partment and the New York City Police Department ran into the World Trade Center to rescue those in danger. They conducted the largest rescue in history and guided people to safety. Twenty three members of the NYPD and thirty one members of the PAPD made the ultimate sacrifice that day. Police officers from around our nation and all over the world came to pay tribute to these fallen heroes. Our or-ganization hosted po-lice officers from both Italy and Aruba to pre-sent tributes from their nations to our members. Italian American police officers by the hundreds rushed into those towers to help and many of them never came out. Several members of the Italian American Police Soci-ety of New Jersey from the PAPD were killed on 9/11. We miss them very much but have tremendous pride in the life that they lived. These Italian American heroes are examples of how police officers live their lives. We must use this anniversary to ensure that the memory of fallen law enforcement officers goes on forever. We must continue to use these heroes as a source of strength and inspiration in our profession. Let us as an organization always remember those members that went to work on 9/11 and never came home. God bless their families and our nation.

Fraternally yours,

William Schievella President