Metropolitan Police Department: Joint Public Oversight Hearing on District of Columbia Preparedness

Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey delivered the following remarks to various committees in the Council of the District of Columbia. The hearing was held October 5, 2001.

Members of the Council, staff and guests ... thank you for the opportunity to present this brief statement concerning the Metropolitan Police Department's response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th and our readiness for future incidents of this type. For your information - and the benefit of our viewing audience on Channel 13 - my testimony is available on the Police Department's Website: www.mpdc.dc.gov.

I come to today's hearing with some fresh insights into the events of September 11th - and really a renewed sense of urgency to ensure the Metropolitan Police Department is ready and able to tackle the challenges that may lie ahead. Earlier this week, I - along with Deputy Mayor Margret Kellems and members of my Command Staff - traveled to New York City to tour "ground zero" in lower Manhattan. We wanted to see first-hand the extent of the damages and the nature of the recovery operation - both of which are almost indescribable. Command members and I took a similar tour of the Pentagon attack site last month. Both sites are sober reminders of the threats we continue to face - especially here in the Nation's Capital - and the need to be prepared.

We also wanted to talk face-to-face with officials from the New York City Police Department and other public safety agencies who have been involved with - and so deeply affected by - this national tragedy. Their stories of individual courage and organizational resolve are not only moving, but very instructive to our efforts here in the District.

One theme we heard over and over again in New York was that when the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred, the Police Department and other public safety agencies did not have the luxury of waiting to consult their emergency operations plans. First and foremost, they did what police officers and firefighters and emergency medical personnel do in any incident approaching this magnitude: they rushed headlong into danger. And in doing so, they saved countless lives, even as many of their own did not survive.

The New York City officials were not suggesting - nor am I - that emergency planning is not important. Planning and preparation are critical. September 11th was a wake-up call not only to government agencies, but also to legislators, community organizations and individuals that all of us must be better prepared to deal with the unexpected - indeed, the unfathomable - in the post-"Nine-Eleven" world.

What the New York officials and I are saying is that major incidents such as these seldom, if ever, "go by the book." And for terrorist attacks specifically, the book hasn't even been written in most cases. Our response to such events can never be totally anticipated or carefully scripted. To a large extent, the nature of our immediate response will be dictated by the events themselves, and there will always need to be a great deal of improvisation. As we move forward on developing plans and enhancing our readiness, I think it is important for the Council and the community to understand that ingenuity and spur-of-the-moment action will forever be a part of the equation.