Norm Shillington has heard about the horrors of 9/11 from the people who witnessed them first hand.
Shillington, a Canadore College Police Foundation program instructor, is also a member of the North Bay and District Critical Incidence Stress team that went to New York City
twice several months after the World Trade Towers were destroyed by terrorist attacks.
The team’s role was to debrief New York Police Department officers who had been at Ground Zero involved in rescue operations in the aftermath of the attacks.
North Bay Police Service inspector Mark Montgomery, as well as team members Dominic Mammola, Barb White and David Byrnes accompanied Shillington.
Under major duress
Wednesday the team was presented with certificates of appreciation from The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, the Baltimore-based organization which, to quote from its Web site is “dedicated to the prevention and mitigation of disabling stress" through the provision of education, training and support services for all emergency services professions.
“Our primary purpose is to go down and help these individuals who have been under major duress,” Shillington said after receiving his certificate at the North Bay Police Service headquarters.
The team was there for a week at a time in January and August 2002, Shillington said.
“And the stories that we received from these individuals were just totally horrendous, but we were very fortunate because we got them to open up, and that was our primary purpose.”
Police officers were asked where they had been during the attacks, and how they were feeling at the time.
“And if they were still distressed after their time with us we would we then refer them to proper clinical individuals to get further information and help,” Shillington said.
Over 25 suicides
The importance of having teams like his, Shillington said—similar teams from around the world also went to New York—was underlined in the wake of the first bombing of the Trade Towers several years before the two planes crashed into them.
“There were over 25 police suicides then, but we haven’t heard of a police suicide yet since the second devastation,” Shillington said.
During his time there, Shillington heard numerous horror stories, some less graphic than others but disturbing none the less, he said.
“One police team was brought in to evacuate other buildings in the area and some of them were going through an office and saw a shoe on the floor, someone either running for their safety or their life,” Shillington said, “or a cup of coffee still hot on the counter there, so you think of that and you wonder, ‘where are those people, were they ever found or were they part of the long list of victims.’”
Other examples include an NYPD officer who had just received his law degree and had submitted his resignation Sept. 11.
“Then the emergency call came through and he walked right into the World Trade Centre and was killed,” said Shillington, a former North Bay Police Service sargeant.
Wonderful experience
Just before leaving New York, Shillington said, the team was debriefed “to make sure we were alright” and then debriefed again several times on their return to North Bay.
“It was a wonderful experience for me going down there helping people and meeting people from around the world who were also there,” Shillington said.
“It’s also a wonderful organization to be tied to.”