Police Chief: 'We Must Never Forget'

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Mark Leahy was having breakfast with his wife at a restaurant in Enfield, CT, where he lived and worked as the town's chief of police.

It was his day off when his daughter called him on his cell phone. On the TV in the restaurant, Leahy and his wife saw the second tower get hit.

"When the first tower was struck," said Leahy, "I thought it was an awful accident. When the second tower was struck, I told my wife, 'You're going to hear a lot about a fellow named Osama Bin Laden.'"

Leahy said when the first tower was struck, he felt sad. The second — "outraged."

The Leahys headed right home, and he changed into his uniform and headed to work. The town's First Selectman (which is equivalent to the town administrator) called a meeting of department heads and they discussed potential exposure to any terrorism, as well as a plan to deal with that.

"My only real concern," said Leahy, "was for the Middle Eastern family that ran a convenience store in town, so we had a chat with them to be careful and I put a cruiser in that parking lot. Our town had two 'centers,' so I put an officer and cruiser in the middle of each one so people would see us...and hopefully relax."

For Leahy, he realized, like many in law enforcement, that the nature of his job would change forever because of the events.

"Much more insightful thinking occurs about potential disasters and appropriate responses now," he said. "Terrorists are watched more closely, regardless of where they are in the world. Law enforcement agencies communicate much better since 9/11, particularly between federal law enforcement and state/local cops. The changes were positive for law enforcement. Studies now question if our airport security changes are really effective."

Leahy said if an attack were to occur like that today, the response would be much improved, particularly since all the training that has occurred in the past 10 years.

Locally, as you might expect, there is a "very low level of exposure for a terrorist attack compared to many other cities and towns." However, Leahy said his officers are well-trained and well-equipped to immediately respond if it were to occur.

"We must never forget," said Leahy.