Yesterday, it was impossible not to think about the events that occurred on 9/11 twenty years ago. I remember clearly being with Dave Kirsch, Jeff Winn, and Vinny Tumminello at 1700 Moss Street on 9/11/01. On 9/12, we had a better idea of what actually happened. Of the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attacks, 412 were first responders. In the 9/11 attacks, 343 firefighters were killed, 37 Port Authority Police Department police officers were killed, 23 NYPD officers were killed, 8 EMT’s were killed, 3 New York Court Officers were killed, and 1 patrolman with the New York Fire Patrol was killed. Of course, many others were killed and severely injured working at Ground Zero and breathing the dust and debris while searching for victims in the rubble of the WTC buildings.

The 20th anniversary of 9/11 gave me a minute to stop thinking about what Hurricane Ida did to the City of New Orleans. I guess it would be more accurate to say that it gave me a minute to stop thinking about what Hurricane Ida meant to me. It gave me the opportunity to think about the heroic first responders that lost their lives on that day and the days that followed instead of the damage to my roof and the named storm deductible I will have to figure out how to overcome.

I know the New Orleans Police Department is made up of officers who are similarly brave. While we have not had to face an attack like 9/11, I made it through Katrina. Unfortunately, there were plenty of officers who did not manage to make it through Katrina. However, there was no such problem during Hurricane Ida. Some NOPD officers had to sleep in their cars to overcome the lack of electricity, but they showed up for work in the face of a category IV hurricane whose eye passed 20 miles from New Orleans. The current batch of NOPD officers, much like the batch of officers who handled their business in 2005, honored the badge and took care of their responsibilities to both their families and New Orleanians who sheltered in place and New Orleanians who evacuated.

As I said yesterday, things at the New Orleans Police Department appear to be returning to normal. We will be working on promotions, vaccinations, and other issues facing the FOP membership as a whole and I will be working on Formal Disciplinary Investigations, Civil Service appeals, and other Legal Defense issues facing individual FOP members. 90% of the New Orleans Police Department belongs to the FOP. If you are part of the 10% that does not belong to the FOP, you may want to ask yourself if this is the time to make the jump. If you are part of the 90%, don’t hesitate to call me for anything.