NYPD Unit Only to Work 9/11 Service
DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Members of a crack commando-style Police Department unit that suffered heavy losses on Sept. 11 will gather at ground zero before dawn on the anniversary of the attacks - but not to reflect or honor their dead.
Instead, the heavily armed, elite Emergency Service Unit will set up security in the area and prepare for the arrival of President Bush later in the day. Other ESU officers will be guarding the United Nations, where the General Assembly is to meet later this week.
``Everybody's going to be working,'' Assistant Chief Tom Purtell said. ``For us, it's not a day for memorials.''
ESU, sometimes referred to as the ``special forces'' of the NYPD, has many to memorialize. Of the 23 NYPD officers killed in the attacks, 14 were members of the 400-strong unit.
Its members are trained as a super-SWAT team, drilled in everything from hostage standoffs and helicopter rescues to pulling would-be suicides off the tops of New York's buildings and bridges.
To gain entry, a police officer, usually with at least five years on the job, must complete a grueling, four-month training course. Members of the unit must be fully certified paramedics, scuba divers and rope-climbers able to rappel from high-rise buildings or helicopters.
In part, it was members' paramedic training that led to the ESU's losses at the World Trade Center. Five teams went into the trade center to treat the wounded and help evacuate workers.
A city-commissioned study of the NYPD's response by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm praised the ESU's ``efficient operations'' on that chaotic day, particularly its rapid deployment of heavy weaponry around the towers to guard against a second attack.
The unit's history of battling terrorists dates well before last September.
In one daring case, ESU officers subdued two men who authorities say had planned to blow themselves up in a suicide attack on a Brooklyn subway station in 1997.
Hours before the planned attack, two officers crept into the suspects' apartment in the dark, then burst into the cramped, dark room where the two men were sleeping. One suspect lunged for a bag next to his bed, while the other wrestled for an officer's gun.
The two officers shot the men in the legs, stopping them before either could reach the bag, which was found to contain five pipe bombs.
While the rest of the world marks Sept. 11 with speeches, silence and prayer, the ESU will honor its fallen members by continuing its work.
``To be honest, it will be easier not being involved in the memorials, to be working instead of thinking about it,'' said Detective Ken Winkler, a 21-year veteran. ``It's always tough, but we have to keep going.''
Officer Madeline Lawrence said the unit has not fully absorbed the loss yet. ``It's been a year, and we're still kind of reeling,'' Lawrence said. ``But we're also closer to each other, and we're getting stronger.''
Purtell said applications to the unit have increased since Sept. 11.
``These men and women want to be out there. They're adrenaline junkies,'' said the chief, a barrel-chested figure with a shaved head and bulging arms.
He added: ``No one's blinking. Whatever challenge is thrown at them, they will throw it right back.''
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