Episode 24

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Published on:

11th Sep 2025

Chief Joe Morris 9/11 Story (Part 2) | Leading the Recovery at Ground-Zero

In this second and final part of his powerful 9/11 story, retired Port Authority Police Chief Joe Morris shares what it was like to lead the recovery effort at Ground Zero after surviving the collapse of the South Tower.

Chief Morris recounts how he organized hundreds of officers in the midst of chaos, the heartbreaking loss of colleagues like Captain Kathy Mazza and Lt. Jimmy Romito, and the proudest and most tragic moments of his career. He also reflects on rebuilding the Port Authority Police Department after the loss of 37 officers and how 9/11 forever shaped his life and leadership.

If you haven’t already, listen to Part 1 for Chief Morris’s firsthand account of surviving the South Tower collapse.

This episode is a testament to courage, resilience, and the human spirit in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Transcript
Paul Boomer:

Previously on Heroes Behind the Badge, chief Joe Morris shared his

Paul Boomer:

firsthand account of 9/11 mobilizing from LaGuardia, arriving at ground zero and

Paul Boomer:

surviving the collapse of the South Tower.

Paul Boomer:

By the end of that morning with the superintendent and other

Paul Boomer:

chiefs lost inside the towers.

Paul Boomer:

Joe found himself the senior surviving officer, designated to command the

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Port Authority police response.

Paul Boomer:

In part two, Joe continues his story.

Paul Boomer:

We'll hear how he led through the recovery operation, the proudest and most tragic

Paul Boomer:

moments of his career, and how he helped rebuild both a department and the lives

Paul Boomer:

of the men and women who served under him.

Craig Floyd:

So at 11:30 AM.

Craig Floyd:

after the ta, this is a couple hours now after the towers have collapsed, chaos

Craig Floyd:

still, ongoing at the site, obviously.

Craig Floyd:

What were the first actions you took?

Craig Floyd:

that's a, great responsibility at a time of chaos at, time of tragedy.

Craig Floyd:

what, what did, were you thinking?

Craig Floyd:

What did you do?

Joe Morris:

when I got after the first, South Tower came down and getting back.

Joe Morris:

I thought of words from 1993 because I responded with Chief Knox, who was the

Joe Morris:

chief operations officer at the time, and I said to him, chief, what do you do now?

Joe Morris:

And he said, Joe, you gotta look at this like it's a tidal wave.

Joe Morris:

Our job is to survive and to bring order to chaos.

Joe Morris:

And that's, it's getting, pushing, myself off the floor, the bus.

Joe Morris:

That's what was in my mind.

Joe Morris:

Order to chaos.

Joe Morris:

So the first thing is to get who we had left, who was coming out of the

Joe Morris:

dust, where to go, and we settled.

Joe Morris:

We went a further couple blocks north after the second tower.

Joe Morris:

Because you had the, again, to get people together.

Joe Morris:

We met at the, Manhattan Borough Community College was located there.

Joe Morris:

They had a small auditorium where Port all Port Authority people came in.

Joe Morris:

It was loud, it was cops and people from all over.

Joe Morris:

And at that point I raised my voice and I said, whoa, enough.

Joe Morris:

Sit down.

Joe Morris:

We gotta get together here.

Joe Morris:

And what I told them to do, break up aviation tunnels and bridges.

Joe Morris:

Civilian, from the financial break into your groups because

Joe Morris:

we gotta get, get this in order.

Joe Morris:

So that was the first.

Joe Morris:

Then with the police, I went out on the street, I saw Chief Hall and

Joe Morris:

Bob Belfi inspector, and I said, we're gonna move up to the, the, the,

Joe Morris:

college's gymnasium because it was open.

Joe Morris:

He actually had doctors there and nurses setting up.

Joe Morris:

But we went in and I, it was a great location because it had seating.

Joe Morris:

It was out, it was parking and it had bathrooms and water and everything

Joe Morris:

we needed so that, and it was a central place we could get people in.

Joe Morris:

So you are talking to about one o'clock people.

Joe Morris:

We finally gathered maybe 300 cops when the buildings came down.

Joe Morris:

What Authority?

Joe Morris:

Police, and the response had 400 police officers down there.

Joe Morris:

I could think so we had.

Joe Morris:

disappearing.

Joe Morris:

So I, we started, then again, you asked why I had the detective

Joe Morris:

sergeant with me, Tony Fitzgerald.

Joe Morris:

I said, Tony, get your detectives who come here and I want you to

Joe Morris:

go get somebody over the morgue.

Joe Morris:

And somebody, I had heard that the city had set up a command post up here, 92.

Joe Morris:

So we sent somebody up there.

Joe Morris:

I sent the detective over to,

Joe Morris:

the New York Police.

Joe Morris:

Headquarters they had set up, they have on their floor.

Joe Morris:

They had a command post.

Joe Morris:

Actually at one point before 1130.

Joe Morris:

I actually drove over there with two, two detectives and put a detective over

Joe Morris:

there to see what was going on, because I knew we needed a presence there.

Joe Morris:

So we had a presence there.

Joe Morris:

Then I drove back.

Joe Morris:

That's when I, you talk about things.

Joe Morris:

I went to get my car where I had parked it.

Joe Morris:

My car literally was incinerated.

Joe Morris:

The only thing left was the steel.

Joe Morris:

Even the rubber tires were burned off of it.

Joe Morris:

Just the steel, no paint That, that caught my attention, I guess so because, so that,

Joe Morris:

that's, the things that you come back.

Joe Morris:

So I went back to the, gymnasium and that, that's when 1130 I was designated,

Joe Morris:

so I started breaking down the cops.

Joe Morris:

I told them.

Joe Morris:

The only, get me all the officers here that had emergency

Joe Morris:

service, trained, qualified.

Joe Morris:

Of course we had some trucks, so we got them together and in my

Joe Morris:

mind, those were the only officers that were gonna go down there.

Joe Morris:

It was just you.

Joe Morris:

You just couldn't send cops, the way they were dressed, it was

Joe Morris:

just smoke and everything else.

Joe Morris:

Plus, you have to remember, building seven was still up.

Joe Morris:

Burning was just north of the complex.

Joe Morris:

The city, when they put their er, they made their, OEM offices there.

Joe Morris:

They put a 500 gallon tank of diesel in the building.

Joe Morris:

Oh.

Joe Morris:

And that caught fire.

Joe Morris:

And that building was going on, and you couldn't get close because we knew

Joe Morris:

it was gonna collapse and it collapsed at five 30 at night, came down on it.

Joe Morris:

So you had all kinds of things like that.

Bill Erfurth:

Joe, you were at the, at your CP at your command post there

Bill Erfurth:

at the university, and then as days passed along, did you incorporate a

Bill Erfurth:

multi-jurisdictional command post where you all centralized together and, worked

Bill Erfurth:

in unison, or did you still just have

Joe Morris:

no.

Joe Morris:

What happened late that afternoon or in the afternoon?

Joe Morris:

Again, this the city, OEM and actually the fire department had

Joe Morris:

the jurisdiction of leadership for all of this because of fire.

Joe Morris:

So that big tent was set up at the, and West Street, big 10 at a big

Joe Morris:

tent, and that was a command center.

Joe Morris:

on the eastern side was Broadway, was the border.

Joe Morris:

It went up, the Canal Street was the northern border.

Joe Morris:

The Hudson River was the west border, and I believe, I'm trying to think,

Joe Morris:

the street of the South, it was three or four, four blocks south of that.

Joe Morris:

That was the zone.

Joe Morris:

Nobody could come in.

Joe Morris:

The National Guard was designated by the governor.

Joe Morris:

the fire department,

Joe Morris:

was, the lead for rescue recovery and to, create it.

Joe Morris:

It wasn't that first day, but going towards the second

Joe Morris:

or third day because of the.

Joe Morris:

There's only so

Joe Morris:

much you could do with hands and pails.

Joe Morris:

They had to get heavy

Joe Morris:

equipment in.

Bill Erfurth:

I remember that w when I was working that, a number of people

Bill Erfurth:

from my department went there, as did so many others, and I was just curious

Bill Erfurth:

how that was coordinated as a central command as far as where they could

Bill Erfurth:

go or who they were assigned with or what their daily functions would be.

Joe Morris:

They really hooked up with a department, NYPD or us.

Joe Morris:

or, the fire department.

Joe Morris:

And that's why like we had New, Jersey State Police wanted to volunteer.

Joe Morris:

We, we, gave them cover that only lasted for maybe two weeks, right?

Joe Morris:

Then we said, thank you very much, but it's time for our crews to do right.

Joe Morris:

So that even that day going forward, I, I had my pick of who I wanted

Joe Morris:

the lieutenants to work for me.

Joe Morris:

The sergeants in ESU, in the ESU, like I say, ESU, were the only ones I let down.

Joe Morris:

That first day, I actually sent cops home around four o'clock, four 30.

Joe Morris:

I had them sit on the bleachers and I told 'em, look, you wanna go there to work?

Joe Morris:

I'm not gonna allow it.

Joe Morris:

I want you to go back to the com, go, back to the commands, go home and get sleep.

Joe Morris:

Because you're gonna be working a lot of overtime in the months to come.

Joe Morris:

Yeah.

Joe Morris:

Yeah.

Bill Erfurth:

How many days, How many days after, after 9/11

Bill Erfurth:

before you actually went home?

Joe Morris:

I could, I, I went home that night around, I, at, I left there

Joe Morris:

around I guess nine o'clock at night.

Joe Morris:

I went over to the command center over at Journal Square TransPortation Center.

Joe Morris:

I went home.

Joe Morris:

And again, I, I never called home.

Joe Morris:

I, always told my wife, bad news travels fast.

Joe Morris:

I got home around, I guess quarter to 12 and my sons were there and,

Joe Morris:

about three or, both of them had graduated college, one of my older.

Joe Morris:

So there were guys there in their early twenties that they grew up with.

Joe Morris:

That was, wonder, whatcha doing?

Joe Morris:

I went home, I woke up at, 3 30, 4 o'clock, and I went back to work five

Joe Morris:

o'clock in the morning going command post.

Joe Morris:

So part of the decisions we made with Tom Farrow was the staffing.

Joe Morris:

What we did was, again, knowing, knowing the contract, it was deemed

Joe Morris:

an emergency ordered overtime so that there was no days off.

Joe Morris:

You work 12.

Joe Morris:

Everyone's gonna work a 12 hour tour, at your normal tour and four hours

Joe Morris:

overtime and you are your days off.

Joe Morris:

You were working 12 hour tours, your vacations, you came in work,

Joe Morris:

you got paid, but you worked.

Joe Morris:

That's how we covered that Lasted and no days off, right?

Joe Morris:

No days off.

Bill Erfurth:

So I wanna, I want to ask you, because it's, it, I had a similar

Bill Erfurth:

experience in 1993 when Hurricane Andrew, struck South Miami Dade County,

Bill Erfurth:

and at that time in this nation, it was the worst natural disaster in

Bill Erfurth:

the history of the United States.

Bill Erfurth:

And it was the same kind of thing.

Bill Erfurth:

We went on to Alpha Bravo shifts.

Bill Erfurth:

I, we, worked.

Bill Erfurth:

18 hour days for six months straight.

Bill Erfurth:

But there's always that aha oh shit moment.

Bill Erfurth:

And that was what I was getting at when I asked you about when you first went home.

Bill Erfurth:

more so in, I guess digging in more specifically is when you had your

Bill Erfurth:

first moment of, just quietness your me first, me moment where you could sit

Bill Erfurth:

and reflect on this and say, holy shit.

Bill Erfurth:

How this just changed not only so many people's lives and so many people

Bill Erfurth:

perished, but how it changed you?

Joe Morris:

To be quite honest with you, it was probably the Friday morning

Joe Morris:

following it going to work because you were down there, the smells and

Joe Morris:

the debris, you can't even describe the how gruesome it was, but just the

Joe Morris:

carnage of people and property persons.

Joe Morris:

And, the Thursday the weather wasn't great and Friday we had the

Joe Morris:

president coming and I literally, on the way in driving, I was stopped.

Joe Morris:

And I remember I stopped at a light when you get off Route three to

Joe Morris:

go towards the Holland Tunnel on.

Joe Morris:

the, road, there was a light there and I said, God, how

Joe Morris:

am I gonna get through this?

Joe Morris:

And then I thought of my dad who did 32 months overseas in North Africa, Sicily,

Joe Morris:

D-Day Cherbourg, the Battle of the Bulge.

Joe Morris:

I said, if he's gonna do it, he watch over me.

Joe Morris:

That was the first time it really hit me.

Joe Morris:

Otherwise, it was business to do.

Joe Morris:

I had things to do.

Joe Morris:

I couldn't ref, I didn't have time to reflect on that kind of stuff.

Bill Erfurth:

Yeah.

Bill Erfurth:

So what was, your most proud moment and then your most tragic moment?

Joe Morris:

When we finished, when the job was done, that was my most proud moment.

Joe Morris:

The closing ceremony, actually, I have a picture on the wall over me.

Joe Morris:

I'm standing with Joe Esposito, the chief of NYPD, chief of the

Joe Morris:

department, and Tom Purtell, who was chief of their, ESU together there.

Joe Morris:

And that was the proudest just before the closing ceremony there,

Joe Morris:

because what we achieved with them,

Craig Floyd:

how long ago was that, Joe, after the attacks?

Joe Morris:

That was the closing was in May, may 20.

Joe Morris:

May the attacks September, the closing in May.

Joe Morris:

Wow.

Joe Morris:

That was the proudest.

Joe Morris:

The d the day that really affected me the most is the lieutenants that I picked.

Joe Morris:

And the other two key thing that I did was that I took two of the most

Joe Morris:

hardheaded lieutenants that I knew that, you had tr they wouldn't,

Joe Morris:

they were independent and but I knew that would represent the PAPD’s.

Joe Morris:

Billy Keegan worked midnights at the tent.

Joe Morris:

John Ryan, who he, I could tell you, he, he is one big, I hate to,

Joe Morris:

ballbuster and I put him there because I knew he was gonna do it right.

Joe Morris:

and I told them, look, I'm not gonna be making a lot of decisions here.

Joe Morris:

Here's what I want our department to do.

Joe Morris:

And they understood me for having worked me.

Joe Morris:

I'm not gonna be o over everything.

Joe Morris:

You make the decisions and you come back and if I don't like it, I'll let you know.

Joe Morris:

But that was the key decisions though.

Joe Morris:

Two, those two people because we didn't get short change in representation

Joe Morris:

because there in the first weeks there, the fire department, you needed to

Joe Morris:

get a pass to go and I said passed to get in and then so that way NYPD and

Joe Morris:

they, it was butting heads, believe me.

Joe Morris:

The Port Authority I always thought was like Switzerland.

Joe Morris:

We would, get the between them and try to get the best deal

Joe Morris:

outta it most of the time.

Joe Morris:

So that's the, that, that's the kind of stuff there.

Joe Morris:

The most tragic Craig was at, Saturday morning in February, following

Joe Morris:

February, where the debris got down to almost the basement and it was

Joe Morris:

the, stairway that we last placed.

Joe Morris:

Jimmy Romito and Captain Kathy Mazza.

Joe Morris:

And it was Officer Walter Lesczynski was one of the police officers and

Joe Morris:

they were rescuing a woman when it collapsed and we found their bodies.

Joe Morris:

So I actually, I came in, it was early in the morning, I came in to take part,

Joe Morris:

taking them out and, the only way we represent identified Romito it was

Joe Morris:

by teeth in the stomach and his name from his utility shirt that he had on.

Joe Morris:

That's the way it was.

Joe Morris:

Two two.

Joe Morris:

You about,

Joe Morris:

captain Mazza was one of them, as was Officer Huczko.

Joe Morris:

We didn't find out till we got the bodies up to the fire department at the top that

Joe Morris:

their bo, they thought it was one body, their bodies were entwined, the ribs.

Joe Morris:

Okay.

Joe Morris:

that's the kind of stuff you are finding and what, was, I can never say enough

Joe Morris:

about cops that worked there, the fire department and, all the construction

Joe Morris:

workers, what they had to put up, what they put up with and what they saw.

Joe Morris:

My, my youngest guy ended up working for Tully down airs again,

Joe Morris:

I was blessed that my, my godson, I hadn't seen him four or five years.

Joe Morris:

He was the, job boss for Tully and the whole site was cut into four quadrants.

Joe Morris:

So he had one quadrant with Tully.

Joe Morris:

My son ended up working for him and he stayed in construction to this day.

Joe Morris:

But Ed, and we had it in, we never told anybody.

Joe Morris:

We connected so that if we needed to get something in or quicken them, it worked.

Joe Morris:

So connect.

Joe Morris:

You talk about connections.

Joe Morris:

I.

Craig Floyd:

I remember, the story about Kathy Maza.

Craig Floyd:

She was the head of the police academy there for the Port Authority,

Craig Floyd:

a captain when she perished.

Craig Floyd:

And I remember the story, the woman you mentioned that she was helping get

Craig Floyd:

out of the tower, basically she knew the tower was about to collapse and

Craig Floyd:

she knew that she was about to die.

Craig Floyd:

And she ordered her other officers who were with her at the time,

Craig Floyd:

trying to assist this woman who was incapable of walking on her own.

Craig Floyd:

She ordered them out of the building so that they could spare their own lives,

Craig Floyd:

but she knew that she was gonna remain with this woman till the end, and she

Craig Floyd:

knew the end was probably, coming soon.

Craig Floyd:

And, she would probably die along with the woman who couldn't get out.

Craig Floyd:

quite a story.

Craig Floyd:

one heroism.

Craig Floyd:

It.

Craig Floyd:

Unbelievable.

Craig Floyd:

help me understand, Joe.

Craig Floyd:

I know we're nearing the end and we gotta wrap this up, but, there's

Craig Floyd:

one thing that always, I wondered, and that is when did it go from a.

Craig Floyd:

Rescue effort to a recovery effort.

Craig Floyd:

we moved along, but at some point you must have thought, okay, there's

Craig Floyd:

still people that we can rescue.

Craig Floyd:

Maybe these officers who were missing initially.

Craig Floyd:

Maybe they're not dead.

Craig Floyd:

Maybe we can recover them and, rescue them before, the end.

Craig Floyd:

when, did all that change?

Craig Floyd:

'cause I was there a week after the attacks and as I understood

Craig Floyd:

it, then there was still hope that maybe you would find some, people

Craig Floyd:

that were still alive in the rubble.

Joe Morris:

Realistically, that, following Saturday in my own mind, it was, just

Joe Morris:

because of what you were finding.

Joe Morris:

You weren't finding whole bodies, the people that were alive.

Joe Morris:

We had the, the two cops rescued the, the next morning and, John McLaughlin.

Joe Morris:

Is that right?

Joe Morris:

Correct.

Joe Morris:

You had a gentleman that came out at eight o'clock and it was a

Joe Morris:

Marine that went down so that you.

Joe Morris:

What you were, we were finding were pieces of bodies.

Joe Morris:

that first day, like we found, one of our officers, Howard, he got hit

Joe Morris:

in the head with a falling while he was at a command post with the fire

Joe Morris:

department with Daniel Nigro, the Chief of the fire department, he was

Joe Morris:

with them when they, it got hit with debris when the South Tower came down.

Joe Morris:

And I had seen them, maybe they were about 12 yards west of me.

Joe Morris:

I was, they were in the, The southbound lanes of West Street, and

Joe Morris:

I was in the north, the northbound lane I saw, and I turned, that's

Joe Morris:

from the South Tower debris.

Joe Morris:

What, I, what protected me that from the South Tower was the bridge.

Joe Morris:

it stopped the debris from going further north.

Joe Morris:

That's what I.

Bill Erfurth:

Oh, and I think that, you should be absolutely credited.

Bill Erfurth:

I'm sure that this has come up before that you made the right choice and

Bill Erfurth:

the right decision, and that you had the foreknowledge to pick that spot,

Bill Erfurth:

knowing that would be the safest place.

Joe Morris:

that's probably that I look back, Greg.

Joe Morris:

That's probably the best decision I made that when I first got there.

Joe Morris:

Just myself and SPI would go, and I told them, don't go any place because,

Joe Morris:

you would've talked, you talk another 40 cops or 30 cops when I look back.

Bill Erfurth:

you could have,

Joe Morris:

you know, that was probably, you know what I exercise again.

Joe Morris:

I learned from working with, my job again, it, you should go off the ranks.

Joe Morris:

It's command and control.

Joe Morris:

I'm, it's not my job.

Joe Morris:

the ones that got before me, it was their job to go rescue people.

Joe Morris:

I could tell by what was there, there was no people for me to rescue.

Joe Morris:

It was all, people, that's their job.

Joe Morris:

and that was subconscious.

Joe Morris:

That, but that's, probably the best decision I made was not letting them go.

Joe Morris:

And, like I said, it, changed the way police or anybody.

Joe Morris:

You gotta create, you gotta send people in to be like the,

Joe Morris:

miners send the birds in to die.

Bill Erfurth:

Question here.

Bill Erfurth:

we all know, those of us that were working or alive at, that time of 9/11,

Bill Erfurth:

we know how it affected the country.

Bill Erfurth:

We know how it affected New York.

Bill Erfurth:

We know how it affected multiple families and people and whatnot.

Bill Erfurth:

How did it affect you?

Bill Erfurth:

How was, how did your life change from 9/10 to 9/11?

Joe Morris:

So there's one thing also that was imPortant that afternoon,

Joe Morris:

and they showed up on their own.

Joe Morris:

You had people that come in for psychological cops.

Joe Morris:

The cops, they came and I made every cop and even myself sit down and talk

Joe Morris:

with this.

Joe Morris:

And we developed a program, again, very close with the Port Authority, risk

Joe Morris:

management, and medical department.

Joe Morris:

People in and we created a program so that helped.

Joe Morris:

the other motion, there was one of my neighbors who's one cops, the cop,

Joe Morris:

he's a lieutenant in Glen Ridge, had told me that the Oklahoma City 19

Joe Morris:

rescue workers committed suicide.

Joe Morris:

And I made up what?

Joe Morris:

that's not gonna happen.

Joe Morris:

So that the Port Authority, that's another thing, There's a lot of things, but we

Joe Morris:

in instituted a program and when we were closing down, all the commands during

Joe Morris:

that whole period, were seeing people, we had daily people going and talking

Joe Morris:

through psychological and direct, and at the end of the operations, down at the

Joe Morris:

site, in October, we also did, closed out.

Joe Morris:

We didn't let.

Joe Morris:

Any cop come.

Joe Morris:

We had special, the guys, we picked who we wanted.

Joe Morris:

There's 75, a hundred cops that worked there at arrest from October till we

Joe Morris:

closed down in May because the lieutenants picked them, they said they're ready.

Joe Morris:

So we had debriefing that took place, with, the cops.

Joe Morris:

The cops with Jim Reese from the FBI, who we met.

Joe Morris:

When I met before that, he came to give court Authority high command.

Joe Morris:

Talking about retirement in August of 2000.

Joe Morris:

But we did that program and I could say great pride after all of this.

Joe Morris:

One Port Authority police officer committed suicide since that day and had

Joe Morris:

hurt suicide, had nothing to do with 9/11.

Joe Morris:

So that, that's something with time I'm proud of.

Joe Morris:

Absolutely.

Joe Morris:

we've lost people with diseases and stuff there.

Joe Morris:

Not one person has committed suicide.

Bill Erfurth:

Yeah, that's an amazing achievement right there.

Craig Floyd:

So I'm just curious, what was that counseling that you provided?

Craig Floyd:

Was that mandatory or was it voluntary?

Joe Morris:

No, mandatory.

Joe Morris:

Out of the commands.

Joe Morris:

That program was mandatory to go to, actually it was, conducted at, two

Joe Morris:

days at Ano, at the Marriott Hotels.

Joe Morris:

We fed them and the, after first, the first day you had, a dinner,

Joe Morris:

they can invite their wives, or partners would come for the dinner.

Joe Morris:

And the next day, part of the counseling involved them also

Joe Morris:

so that it was, planned out.

Joe Morris:

And again, Port Authority put out the monies and everything needed.

Joe Morris:

Again, working with our risk management people thought we had

Joe Morris:

the right breathing of gears.

Joe Morris:

The both right masks they brought for us, we were, whatever they could do for us.

Joe Morris:

Medical and risk management.

Joe Morris:

Got the equipment, Port Authority did what they had to do to take care.

Craig Floyd:

Joe, you lost 37 officers on 9/11.

Craig Floyd:

you had, many months long, recovery effort.

Craig Floyd:

many of your officers at Ground zero, some of whom unfortunately have died

Craig Floyd:

of diseases related to their work at ground zero and breathing in the

Craig Floyd:

toxins during that difficult time.

Craig Floyd:

I'm just curious, the department.

Craig Floyd:

Today is thriving.

Craig Floyd:

I, think there's great pride in the fact that you are working for the

Craig Floyd:

Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey.

Craig Floyd:

you're following in the footsteps of those who died on 9/11.

Craig Floyd:

But what, in those months after 9/11, what was the wellbeing of your officers?

Craig Floyd:

Was that the toughest challenge, or how would you describe the

Craig Floyd:

challenges, the toughest challenge you faced to build, rebuild this

Craig Floyd:

department after such a tragedy?

Joe Morris:

It again, Port Authority's an, unique where I

Joe Morris:

had to talk to the, again, 9/11.

Joe Morris:

After 9/11 when I became the chief.

Joe Morris:

Authority, high executives from the same police area they had, they

Joe Morris:

lost their officers so that the interrelationship that I had wasn't

Joe Morris:

just business, but it was personal.

Joe Morris:

We knew each other so that we worked to get everything done.

Joe Morris:

again, we had an existing list of 7,000 people on it and I needed

Joe Morris:

to rush people through it, but it was an old list, five years.

Joe Morris:

We identified who were active police officers and we put

Joe Morris:

'em in the first class.

Joe Morris:

We, had, from a night or 23, week course or 26, we went down to 10

Joe Morris:

for active police officer and we worked with the union because even

Joe Morris:

if you are on that list to get on, we had, you had seniority rights.

Joe Morris:

So we worked with the unions GU for the, funds.

Joe Morris:

So you had that working.

Joe Morris:

So that when we needed the classes, I had, the medical, who was there to do

Joe Morris:

the testing for the, human resources to do all the administrative work and the

Joe Morris:

acade, the, the, Fairleigh Dickinson.

Joe Morris:

Now the other key thing that I had was, again, it's always the people and the,

Joe Morris:

the Deputy Direct, the deputy, Director of Public Safety, Mike Scott, he survived.

Joe Morris:

He was on the phone with Fred Morrone.

Joe Morris:

Fred's last word was, "oh shit" when the building came down, poor

Joe Morris:

Mike was on the phone with him.

Joe Morris:

But Mike was, 25 year, pro with the Port Authority, ran the path

Joe Morris:

trains Chief Superintendent was on the ethics board for 20 years, and

Joe Morris:

I tell people I was the cop or the teenager and he was the businessman.

Joe Morris:

Because he took care of all the, logistics, the rentals,

Joe Morris:

the cost contractors contract.

Joe Morris:

That was key.

Joe Morris:

And I, to this day, we are best of friends.

Joe Morris:

We even went into the TSA when we retired together and we both

Joe Morris:

recognized that matters, but the

Joe Morris:

that's how things got back people.

Craig Floyd:

let me, Dennis, I'm gonna turn it over to you to close it, but let

Craig Floyd:

me just say that today the Port Authority is bigger and stronger than ever.

Craig Floyd:

The Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey.

Craig Floyd:

And, Joe Morris, you're the man responsible for, that.

Craig Floyd:

the fact that they're thriving today after such a devastating

Craig Floyd:

loss and, tragedy on 9/11.

Craig Floyd:

I'm proud to be your friend, sir. I'm so glad you joined us here on

Craig Floyd:

Heroes Behind the Badge because you are truly a hero behind the badge.

Joe Morris:

Ed Cetnar, who's the superintendent of police now, retired

Joe Morris:

state Jersey State Police who was injured on, yeah, he has injuries

Joe Morris:

from 9/11 when they were, they went, the recovery, rescue recovery when

Joe Morris:

they volunteered to go injured.

Joe Morris:

But he's, always the most respect and anything he wants anything I

Joe Morris:

want, he, he would, he'd give, gives to me so I get the most respect

Joe Morris:

and, You know what I, was blessed.

Joe Morris:

As I said, some people said, it's like winning the lottery.

Joe Morris:

When you became a PA cop.

Joe Morris:

I was blessed to have seen the ad in the paper while cleaning a

Joe Morris:

window, trying to take the test.

Joe Morris:

I looked back.

Joe Morris:

That's how I became.

Dennis Collins:

Chief, you're a great storyteller.

Dennis Collins:

We could go on and on Boy, you have the stories and I wanna thank

Dennis Collins:

you for coming on and retelling.

Dennis Collins:

I'm sure you've told this story hundreds of times.

Dennis Collins:

No, not a lot.

Dennis Collins:

I'm glad maybe we're one of the first we got the inside scoop guys because.

Dennis Collins:

We can't ever forget what happened.

Dennis Collins:

And as we said at the beginning, a lot of people that are alive today

Dennis Collins:

have no direct knowledge of this.

Dennis Collins:

This is how we keep people informed of the heroic activities by our police

Dennis Collins:

and our fire department on 9/11.

Dennis Collins:

So thank you for coming with us on Heroes Behind the Badge.

Dennis Collins:

Thank you Also.

Dennis Collins:

For your decades, your three over three decades of service to the

Dennis Collins:

people of New York and New Jersey.

Dennis Collins:

and I look at.

Dennis Collins:

The terrible loss of life, the terrible destruction, the whole concept.

Dennis Collins:

I remember exact, we all remember what we were doing when this

Dennis Collins:

happened, we gotta remember that tens of thousands of people survived.

Dennis Collins:

And of your 400 officers, god forbid, 37 passed.

Dennis Collins:

But most of your officers on the scene survived.

Dennis Collins:

the terrible.

Dennis Collins:

Tremendous loss of life overshadows that, but you guys that were out

Dennis Collins:

there on the scene did a lot of things right, and let's not forget that.

Dennis Collins:

Let's not forget that.

Dennis Collins:

And its great you are,

Joe Morris:

again, it it's the people, but it was the people in the Port

Joe Morris:

Authority, in the right spots that, civilians and how you, the evacuation

Joe Morris:

drills and everything else, that's what, why most people survived the numbers.

Joe Morris:

Just it worked.

Joe Morris:

It was just, if you look at who died, it was above where the planes hit.

Joe Morris:

That's, who most of the deaths were,

Dennis Collins:

which was almost a death sentence from, the be.

Dennis Collins:

Oh, absolutely.

Dennis Collins:

There was not much you could do, but you guys did an unbelievable job.

Dennis Collins:

You and your team clearly are heroes behind the badge.

Dennis Collins:

You exemplify exactly what this podcast stands for.

Dennis Collins:

So thanks again for joining us.

Dennis Collins:

I wish all of our audience, please go to follow,

Dennis Collins:

You can hit the little buttons wherever you get your podcast because that tells

Dennis Collins:

us that you like what we're doing.

Dennis Collins:

If you like something that Joe Morris said today, please follow, or subscribe

Dennis Collins:

to Heroes Behind the Badge Podcast.

Dennis Collins:

We'll see you next time on Heroes Behind the Badge.

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About the Podcast

Heroes Behind the Badge
We tell REAL stories about REAL cops.  And we expose the fake news about police and give you the REAL truth.
From the front lines to the final call, Heroes Behind the Badge brings you the untold stories of America's law enforcement community. Led by Craig Floyd, who spent 34 years working alongside police officers across the nation, alongside veteran facilitator Dennis Collins and law enforcement expert Bill Erfurth, this podcast cuts through misconceptions to reveal the true nature of modern policing.

Our dynamic trio brings unique perspectives to each episode: Craig shares deep insights from his decades of experience and relationships within law enforcement, Dennis guides conversations with meticulous research and natural flow, and Bill adds engaging commentary that makes complex law enforcement topics accessible to all listeners.

Each episode features in-depth conversations with law enforcement professionals, sharing their firsthand experiences, challenges, and triumphs. Drawing from extensive research and real-world experience, we explore the realities faced by the over 800,000 officers who serve and protect our communities every day.

From dramatic accounts of crisis response to quiet moments of everyday heroism, our show illuminates the human stories behind the badge. We dive deep into the statistics, policies, and practices that shape modern law enforcement, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of what it truly means to serve in law enforcement today.

Whether you're a law enforcement professional, a concerned citizen, or someone seeking to understand the complexities of modern policing, Heroes Behind the Badge provides the context, insights, and authentic perspectives you won't find anywhere else. Join us weekly as we honor those who dedicate their lives to keeping our communities safe, one story at a time.

Presented by Citizens Behind the Badge, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for law enforcement professionals across the United States. Join over 126,000 Americans who have already signed our Declaration of Support for law enforcement at behindbadge.org.