Raghuram Vadarevu, Knight Ridder/Tribune News
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- For the 120 men and women who graduated from the Port Authority police academy on Wednesday, police work is nothing new. Many have worked in law enforcement for years. But the Sept. 11 attacks spurred some of them to join the agency and help meet its increased security responsibilities.
Equipped with new counterterrorism training, the 108 men and 12 women will join 1,571 authority members currently entrusted with protecting the region’s airports, tunnels, bridges, and ports.
“Being a Port Authority police officer was a very tough job before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,” said Joseph J. Seymour, the authority’s executive director, during the graduation ceremony at Fairleigh Dickinson University. “It’s even more difficult now.”
Over the past year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has hired 439 officers, mainly to meet a federal mandate to staff all airport security checkpoints, said Charles D. DeRienzo, the agency’s police superintendent.
The authority also has created two deputy superintendent posts for counterterrorism and training since the attacks, which claimed 37 of its officers. And it has developed an accelerated six-week curriculum, designed for recruits with previous law enforcement experience, along with a six-month academy.
“There is a big job ahead and a big responsibility to protect the people,” DeRienzo said.
Wednesday’s graduates received 100 hours of counterterrorism training, including how to spot suspicious behavior, documents, and vehicles. They were also schooled in traditional rescue techniques, including the use of defibrillators.
They join 83 Port Authority officers who graduated in April, the first class after the attacks. In September, 236 officers from the accelerated and six-month programs graduated, as well.
“If we set a good example, it will reflect positively on those who we lost,” DeRienzo told the graduates during what was a somber celebration Wednesday.
A white banner with the names of the 37 Port Authority officers who died during the attacks hung above the stage. Bagpipes and drums played.
A moment of silence also was observed for New Jersey State Trooper Christopher S. Scales, who was struck and killed by a tanker truck while on a seat-belt inspection detail at a New Jersey Turnpike toll plaza in Carteret.
Joseph Arias, a Bronx native and former New York City police sergeant, joined the Port Authority to help the agency meet the challenges of a post-Sept. 11 world, his family said.
“You have to protect a lot more different areas now,” said Thomas Tobin, Arias’ stepfather, who came from the Bronx with a family contingent of 12.
Arias’ mother, wife, and five children occupied the last row of seats. They watched as Arias, along with the other new graduates, marched in single file in their neatly pressed navy blue uniforms and crisp white gloves. Arias later won the Chief James Romito Award, named for the chief who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mark W. Sharon of Belleville said he left his patrolman’s job after two years with the Montclair Police Department for better opportunities. Still, the job change has made his mother worry more than usual.
“You just don’t know what dangers are out there,” said Marcia Sharon, whose husband, Walter, is an officer in the Essex County Sheriff’s Department.
Her son said he’d like to be posted at Newark Liberty International Airport because he could meet and help many different types of people. But he said he was happy with his first assignment: to go wherever they need him, from the bridges to the tunnels to the airports.
Michael M. DeMartino of Rutherford is just glad to be back in uniform. He worked as a New York State trooper and most recently in the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
DeMartino, who won the authority’s Sgt. Kevin F. Murphy award for physical fitness, said he chose the Port Authority because it is regarded as an “outstanding department.” He hopes to one day be in the emergency services unit. For now, he will be stationed at the Lincoln Tunnel.