PAX Centurion - Special Edition 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • Special Boston Marathon Bombing Issue 2013 • Page 3 Thank you from the BPPA leadership W e are very much aware that “ThankYou” is a wholly inadequate way to express to our membership our feelings for what you did and how you performed during and after the horrific events of April 15 th , 2013. There are simply no words to express the pride and respect we have for our membership who performed at the highest levels of professionalism under the most chaotic of circumstances. No similar incident of such magnitude has occurred within our collective memories in the City of Boston. Such savagery and callous indifference for innocent human life seldom occurs in our city on a similar scale, but onApril 15 th , 2013, Marathon Day, it did. And all of you rose to the occasion, in a wide variety of different ways. Whether you were an optimistic new recruit in brown khakis or a jaded veteran of many years, all of you experienced the horror of what can happen when savages hell-bent on terror and killing people perform their cowardly deeds. Whether you were present at the scene on Boylston St., assisted in the capture of the animals inWatertown, or stood a lonely security post inWest Roxbury, Brighton, East Boston or anywhere else; it doesn’t matter.You all contributed in important ways. Some deeds were highly public and widely photographed, other duties were performed unseen and unknown to anyone but your fellow officers. As the old saying from a retired BPPA member/former “tin-can” sailor goes, “We also serve, who sit and wait.” How true… During that terrible week, BPPA members and EMTs worked 12, 16, and sometimes 24-hour shifts – or more – often without relief and without so much as a bottle of water being delivered from our own department. BPPA officers greatly appreciated help from our own Boston EMS, the NYPD / PBA and NY/NJ Port Authority Police Department’s canteen trucks – they managed to supply some much-needed food and water during this exhaustive week. Some officers sustained injuries they still aren’t aware of, both physical and psychological, and getting our department to recognize that will undoubtedly be yet another battle in the weeks and months to come. We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to seek assistance from either your personal health care professional or to contact the BPD Peer Support Unit at 617-343-5175 / emergency 617-594-9091. There will be time in the coming weeks to critique the department’s performance, to examine what happened and what didn’t – (but should have!) happened. But this special issue of the Pax is not for that purpose. We have plenty of people, organizations and businesses to thank for a myriad of services rendered to our members. Please forward your personal “thank yous,” recollections and remembrances to the BPPA via fax or e-mail for inclusion in the next Pax (May/June, 2013). For this special edition, however, please accept our humble and inadequate “ThankYou,” for a job performed above and beyond the call of duty. President Tom Nee • Vice President Ron MacGillivray Secretary Pat Rose • Treasurer David Fitzgerald