SW Valley Times

City of Goodyear issued the following annoucement on Sept. 7.

Goodyear Fire Chief Paul Luizzi was a young firefighter in Massachusetts, and Goodyear Police Chief Santiago Rodriguez was a young police officer in Goodyear, when the events of Sept. 11, 2001 unfolded.

As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approaches, Chief Luizzi and Chief Rodriguez reflect on how that day forever changed the country, and how it has brought their departments closer together. Before 9/11, the idea of police and fire departments being in regular communication was almost unheard of. Today, Goodyear’s police and fire departments work together seamlessly to report on suspicious activity and other potential threats.

“I think this generation of firefighters is much more observant to what’s going on inside a house and if there’s anything that seems out of sorts. That level of awareness, and making sure it gets pushed up to the right people so that it could be further investigated, is very important,” Luizzi said. “We’re sharing a lot of that information between the feds, state and local, so that everybody’s got the same sheet of music and we all understand what’s going on.”

In addition, the events of 9/11 brought mental health concerns among police officers, firefighters and first responders to the forefront.

“It showed our nation that, although we are tough, we are no different from any other human,” Rodriguez said. “We can also suffer from the same things from seeing and experiencing trauma.”

The changes that have come to police and fire departments in Goodyear and around the nation are an effort to ensure America never experiences another Sept. 11, 2001. It’s a mission that Goodyear Police and Fire have never forgotten.

“How do we not forget so that history doesn’t repeat itself? That’s the main thing,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes when you forget history, it will repeat itself.”

Original source can be found here.