More than 500 New York City Police Department recruits visited the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Thursday morning to honor and remember the members of the NYPD who sacrificed their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. This is the second class of NYPD recruits to visit the Memorial and Museum as a part of their training.
Ringing the South Pool in rows of four to accommodate the large number of recruits, class representatives laid a wreath at the panel marking the beginning of the names of NYPD officers lost in the line of duty on 9/11.
Clifford Chanin, executive vice president and deputy director for museum programs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, addressed the recruits as they assembled in Foundation Hall. Chanin congratulated the group in advance of their impending graduation on Dec. 28, 2017, and emphasized the crucial partnership between the NYPD and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
He implored the recruits to never forget the sacrifice of their forebears, 23 of whom made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11. “We cannot any longer say thank you to them, so we say thank you to you,” he said.
Also in attendance were the NYPD’s First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker and Deputy Chief Samuel Wright, the commanding officer of the recruit training section.
“It’s important that you understand what this place means,” Commissioner Tucker impressed upon the recruits before sharing his personal 9/11 story.
He emphasized that the 9/11 attacks changed the way New York City is policed. “’If you see something, say something’—it really does matter.”
By 9/11 Memorial Staff