09/11/2026
25 years ago today…
“The week for me started a little different from most.
In my first few years as a young patrol officer, I made a commitment to myself to stay up on my tactical and physical skills well after recruit classes ended. For this reason, I was keen to jump at any training that could expand my knowledge and keep me current on the latest skills and tactics, particularly around the use of force. So, instead of answering calls for service that fall, I enrolled in a week-long conference that attracted law enforcement officers and training experts from across North America to my city.
Day 1 of the training was superb as we wrestled on mats and listened to a variety of subject matter experts speak about the perils of policing in the 21st century and the need for preparedness for whatever the world might one day throw at us. Feeling invigorated from the day, I went home looking forward to the week to come.
As I got up the next morning, my mind focused on Day 2 of the conference. I had no idea that the breaking news I would hear over the car radio a few minutes later would change our world forever. Reports that a plane had crashed into one of the two towers of the World Trade Center interrupted the song I was listening to—ironically, “Mad World” by Gary Jules.
I remember thinking this news didn’t sound good, but it was a world away, and I had no way of knowing how serious this situation was to become. Arriving at the conference venue, I went to the hotel restaurant where the out-of-town delegates were finishing up breakfast. A small contingent of NYPD officers were among the attendees, and as I approached their table, my naïveté was clear in the flippant way I broke the news to them. This is something I will always regret.
“Fellas,” I asked, “have you heard the news about the plane hitting the World Trade Center this morning?”
Color rushed from one officer’s cheeks. Clearly, they had not.
One officer told me the towers were in his policing borough and his shift—his buddies and colleagues—had been scheduled to work that morning.
I called home while they tracked down a television to understand better what had happened. Finding a large television in the hotel atrium tuned to CNN, I listened to my family’s shrill “No, no, no!” over the phone, as we all watched in horror when the second plane hit the other tower, folding into the building like a hot knife in butter.
This was real. It was really happening.
September 11, 2001, changed the Western world in the blink of an eye and brought to light the reality that terrorists, from what seemed to be a world away, had the ability to strike at will on our own continent.
This day also cast light on something else. Unselfish acts of bravery: the type of courage people think of first played out before us on the screen as first responders and volunteers of every stripe dove in to do what they could.
Valor in the face of extreme risk—bodily harm and death: this was the type of courage shown repeatedly across news networks around the globe as office workers, paramedics, fire fighters, K-9 teams, iron workers, national guard, police, and other emergency workers choked back smoke and fought off flames to enter these two buildings to help the injured.
Simultaneously, in the skies above America, passengers on Flight 93 took it upon themselves to fight off terrorists who had taken their plane hostage, causing it to plummet to the ground and killing all on board. A fourth plane crashed into the Pentagon. All so tragic.” – Dave Sweet with Susan Forest – Undaunted.
Bravery is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.
— Mark Twain
In that unprecedented moment twenty-five years ago, people across borders came together in support of our American neighbours, united by a shared human experience none of us will ever forget. For those who lost their lives that day, and for those lost in the years of conflict that followed, today remains a day of remembrance. It reminds us that the world can change in an instant, but it also teaches us something enduring: in times of fear, loss, and uncertainty, good neighbours come together to support one another.
Twenty-five years later, I hope that spirit remains and continues to guide those entrusted with making decisions on all of our behalf’s.
