This Saturday is the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. These events changed the U.S. and the public safety communications community, and will not — and should not — be forgotten. In the  years since the attacks, APCO’s Public Safety Communications has reported on interoperability issues and public safety communications’ progress toward this goal. But this week, we look back atwhat happened and what our experiences were, as well as how far we have come. Below is the earliest coverage of the attacks from the pages of PSC.

November 2001 PSC

The November 2001 issue documents the initial reactions of APCO members and members of the public safety community in “A Loss No Words Can Express.” Also in this issue, Robert Gurss discussed the new perspective that the incidents brought to public safety communications; Barry Furey, then chair of the 2002 APCO Conference Committee, paid tribute to the events and the first responders; and T.G. Mieure, then APCO Historical Committee chair, reflected on history in the making.

February 2002 PSC

The February 2002 issue addressed emergency management in the wake of 9/11. It includes a New York Daily News article that documented the 9-1-1 calls from that day, covering the incident second by second, as well as an article written by Ari N. Wax, the deputy commissioner of technological development for the New York Police Department, titled, “WTC Tragedies Prove NYC Prepared for Emergency Communications Crisis.” Lori Buck discussed how the attacks affected public education in, “Nothing Spreads Faster than Fear.” And Sarah K. Miller took up training in ” Disaster Training & the Cost of Preparedness.”