The title of the Alan Jackson song “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning?)” makes us all look back to the day 10 years ago when a vicious terrorist attack against the United States changed the nation forever.
But while most sat glued to the television, stunned at the tragedy unfolding before them, many jumped into action. Local public safety and law enforcement officers didn’t have time to react with emotion as the ripples of shock made their way across the nation. Law enforcement officers in Bulloch County began doing their job – ensuring the safety of the public – immediately.
 “I was at work,” said Mike Russell, who is now Georgia Southern University police chief, was a captain with GSU at the time. “As the word spread, we got on the Internet and watched bits and pieces of reports. We also listened to the radio and TV and were huddled up in the conference room.”
But soon, orders came to be more vigilant, take extra precautions and make sure the campus and its students were not vulnerable, and GSU Public Safety was on high alert.
It was the same way with Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson, who was in his first term as sheriff in 2001. He said he was surprised at orders from the National Sheriff’s Assoc-iation to report to the States-boro-Bulloch County Airport minutes after the World Trade Center attack to ensure the airport was secure and no one flew in or out.
“I was at the courthouse when I got the first phone call,” he said. “We all turned on the TVs.” The calls from the public began shortly afterward.
“Nobody really knew what was going on,” he said. “It never entered your mind that someone would do that. We wondered what in the world was going on, in a state of shock.”
Statesboro Public Safety Director Wendell Turner, who was a captain in the Statesboro Police Department on Sept. 11, 2001, recalled thinking how the attack was “a terrible blow to America. I felt very sad for the people in there, and also for the public safety people rushing in (to help in the Towers).”

First responders
It was those firefighters, policemen, emergency responders who “didn’t think twice about rushing in as everyone else was rushing out” that got to Turner. “Human nature would be to run away but this is what (public safety officers) do day in and day out. It makes you proud to feel that,” but in the midst of the tragedy, his gut reaction was shock and confusion, he said.
Georgia State Patrol Capt. Kirk McGlamery was working in the yard with his father, on his day off, when he heard the news. They both went inside to watch television reports.
“It was one of those stunning, heartbreaking things you never thought could happen in America,” he said.
Bulloch County Public Safety Director Ted Wynn said he remembers the day as if it were yesterday.
“I remember where I was when the attacks began. I was conducting a tornado and fire drill with Principal Karen Doty at Nevils Elementary,” he said. “I returned to the office in time to see the towers collapse. The emotions I felt are hard to put into words, but needless to say, I was unsettled.  When I saw the first tower collapse, I guess like everyone else, I knew it was just a matter of time before the second fell and I was praying they were evacuating.
“I wondered how many had died when the towers fell and was stunned that two commercial airliners could bring down two building of this magnitude. Later that night as the sound of the firefighters location devices were alarming, I knew what that meant, and I wondered if any responders would be found alive.”

Focus on security
Anderson said in the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, focus on security has increased. Deputies are trained to be even more observant than before, looking out for suspicious activity or persons. “We have had different training, exercises and procedures implemented.”
Turner said a lot of “positive changes” took place within the city police department as well, with improvements in communications, especially with other agencies.
The relationship between all agencies was already good, but the 9/11 tragedy brought the departments closer, he said.
And, “There is a lot more awareness, a much more watchful eye.”
Russell said the uncertainty was the worst. “There were a lot of different emotions – anger, shock, surprise, worrying about people there,” and the big question was “what was going to happen next?
 The tragic event caused the university to “broaden the way we do things here. We didn’t really think things like this could happen.”
Increased security included having bomb dogs at large events and contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance and advice on major issues and events. Since the attack, GSU and all of Bulloch County’s public safety and law enforcement agencies have conducted safety drills where scenarios were enacted as if they were “real life,” to train officers in response techniques.
He, too, said the tragedy brought all departments closer together.

GSP changes
The Georgia State Patrol has really “stepped up to the plate in Homeland Security,” McGlamery said. Troopers statewide are making a great many more suspicious activity reports, being observant and vigilant in checking schools and government buildings on a daily basis.
During September, in light of the anniversary of the attack, troopers are showing an increased vigilance, but that will continue as it has since the attack, he said.
Troopers also check water and septic systems, and show a presence in schools by walking the halls and contacting principals.
“We are paying close attention to infrastructure,” he said.
But along with the heightened security, public safety and law enforcement officials still remember 9/11, recall the way they felt as they saw bodies falling from the shattered buildings, and feeling on a daily basis the pride mixed with sadness upon remembering the fellow officers who gave their lives trying to save the others who died in the attack.
A memorial service “to commemorate our fallen heroes” will be held today at Bulloch Memorial Gardens at 2 p.m., Wynn said.
 “If the memory of that day has faded, go to www.time.com and click on ‘9/11 frozen in time’, and view the 22 photos. Remember those that perished that day.”
Nearly 3,000 civilian citizens, 343 New York firefighters, 23 New York Police officers, 37 Port Authority Police officers, and eight paramedics and EMTs were killed Sept. 11, 2001 in the Twin Towers attack, he said.
 
Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.