Rage. It’s what Rich Marx, a Raleigh police captain, said was his reaction as nearly 3,000 of his countrymen and 72 of his fellow officers died on 9/11.
“We were caught with our pants down on 9/11,” John Walls, Raleigh master officer and purple heart recipient, said.
Ten years into the new terror threat world, Raleigh police officers shed light on their 9/11 memories and the difficulties and controversies in keeping America safe.
For Raleigh Captain Chris Bertram, 9/11 was a dreadfully long day of trying to locate his brother who worked in Manhattan.
“He ended up having to walk out,” Bertram said. “He walked across the Brooklyn Bridge along with a lot of other people to get out of Manhattan.”
Marx’s initial thought that morning was it was an accident, but the true nature of the matter was soon evident.
“It almost made — as it made thousands of others — it made you want to join the military and help in any way you could,” he said. “But that really wasn’t a feasible option for me.”
Walls, however, was already in the military, a private first class in the Marines at Camp Lejeune . He spent one semester at N.C . State before choosing the Marines in 2000, eventually taking four tours in sequential operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was wounded in Iraq in 2005.
“It hit home quickly,” Walls said. “You were a 20-year-old kid and your country’s been attacked and that’s your job to defend it.”
Since the attacks, the job of law enforcement has never been the same.
Marx found an immediate role as some civilians nationwide took matters into their own hands following 9/11, attacking many store owners of Middle Eastern heritage. Marx made a point to protect the Middle Eastern store owners on his beat at Glenwood South.
“I made extra patrols to those areas and got to know those people even better just so we wouldn’t have a similar incident here in Raleigh — and I don’t think we did,” he said. “But from that, I became much closer to those store owners and managers.”
Police also had more responsibilities that seemed trivial before.
“It used to be somebody saw a briefcase sitting next to a building and you know they would take a look at it, bring it inside, and say ‘hey, somebody left this here,'” Bertram said. “Now they call us. I think [9/11] created a heightened sense of awareness among officers in general.”
In 2009, increased awareness paid off as eight suspected terrorists were arrested in connection with an alleged terrorist cell based in Willow Springs. It was found that this cell was gathering weapons and plotting to attack numerous places around the world and in America. The federal trial of five Triangle men involved begins in New Bern Sept. 19.
“Prior to 9/11, those guys probably wouldn’t have been picked up,” Bertram said. “We are getting better at being proactive rather than reactive in that type of situation.”
Having met one of the men in the terrorist cell as a deputy, Walls said he was “super polite.”
“It was weird, because the name didn’t mean anything to me, but when I saw the face I was like, ‘I know that guy,'” he said. “That is a prime example of small terrorist cells throughout the U.S.”
Today, police continue to train for whatever scenarios intelligence says is possible, which Walls said could very well involve Raleigh.
“With the intel we have now, terrorists aren’t trying to hit [high value targets] like the Sept. 11 attacks,” Walls said. “They want to do multiple, small strikes.”
Walls said the Sept. 6 IHOP shooting in Carson City, Nevada, which killed five people — including the shooter and three National Guardsman — may be just that type of terrorism, although it remains unconfirmed.
Police in Raleigh regularly train for clearing hotels, schools and other buildings, Walls said, and how to take quick action at a scene instead of waiting for SWAT teams like before 9/11.
“Raleigh is really good about training the patrol officers and giving patrol officers the time and the training to be technically proficient in those areas,” he said.
Bertram and Walls said the community has come a long way since 9/11. Further progress, however, Walls said, is hard to make.
“There is a fine line to walk between security and liberty,” Walls said. “People have to be willing to give up some liberty and some freedoms for security and that’s a hard thing to sell and it is a hard thing to deal with as Americans.”
Wiretapping and the recent airport security scanners remain divisive issues in the nation.
“I don’t know a good answer to it,” Walls said. “I think it’s far above my pay-grade.”
Even while debate continues to rage over that fine line, Marx said ten years later, Raleigh police is more ready and alert to protect its citizens.
“We are definitely more aware and more alert and cognizant of trends here in this country and around the world, and we try to be as prepared as possible,” he said. “And we try to be prepared for any event at any time.”