VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - A special
9/11 ceremony for police officers from both sides of the border will be held at the Peace Arch at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.
One
VPD member tells
News1130 no amount of training could have prepared any emergency crew for what happened that day.
Sgt. James Pearson was getting ready for the day shift when the first tower was hit. His boss came running in telling the crew to be prepared because no one knew if it was a one-off event.
"They kept a lot of vehicles outside the downtown core and were only answering 9/11 calls," he recalls of the time between the attacks and when all the flights over BC were grounded.
He says watching the
NYPD handle the double tragedy was humbling.
"There's the image of what was left of the building after they both collapsed, emergency personnel working hard to clear that, looking for any sign of survival," he recalls.
"Police, fire, ambulance, it's our job to run toward the sound, not run away from it."
Pearson thinks we are a target, and now part of every new officer's training is a scenario like 9-11.
9/11's lasting security legacy
A transportation security expert at UBC says the attacks on 9/11 changed the way we travel by land, sea and air.
Associate Professor
Garland Chow with the Sauder School of Business says most people would agree they now feel safer when they travel, despite the longer waits at borders and when going through airport screening.
"Over time we learn how to cope with it," he says, "but also the processes, procedures and technology being used have been improved."
Chow says we always feel like it's longer because of the extra procedures, but with the extra security staff and training it's about as smooth as it's going to get.