Public Safety Director Remembers 9/11

Michael P. King remembers finally leaving work the night of the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago. He stopped at Wawa first.

In the store, usually no one acknowledges one another, the said.

“Everybody that day was on the same level,” King said. “Everybody was feeling the same thing. People were cordial to each other; they were courteous to each other. It was a very humbling experience.”

In 2001, King was the deputy chief of the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. That week, the week of the attacks, he was acting chief while the chief was on vacation.

“I remember getting the first call when the first plane hit,” King said.

He heard the news first from his wife who had called him, and then he and others, including the prosecutor, were huddled around a TV in one of the offices.

He turned it on just in time to see the replay of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center.

“You knew at that point,” King said, “it wasn’t a wrong turn by a commercial pilot.”

The immediate aftermath

Right away, King went into emergency management mode.

“We got volunteers,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the amount of volunteers.”

Several of the detectives from the county prosecutor’s office were sent home to pack and wait for a call from New York.

“The adrenaline was flowing so high,” King said. “They were ready to go and it was like, ‘We’ll get back to you.’”

But then, the need turned to local emergency management. The prosecutor’s office was getting orders not to drain their own men and women since the risk was high for areas in Philadelphia.

“Things were changing by the minute, not by the hour,” King said.

Forming a new unit

In the aftermath of 9/11, emergency management changed in every county and state across the country. King helped to restructure the county prosecutor’s office. A counter-terrorism unit was formed.

“It changed not only your organizational chart, but how you deal with the community,” King said.

Workers were trained in all areas, even in biochemistry since the threat of anthrax was so high.

“It was this whole different level of preparedness,” King said.

King credits Kevin Tuono as “one of the best emergency management coordinators in the state” and said Burlington County is “on the cutting edge,” getting grant money when available and equipping and training first-responders.

10 years later

From 2003 to 2007, King served as the chief of detectives for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. In June, he became the public safety director of the Cinnaminson Township Police Department.

But, he said, 9/11 changed the face of public safety forever.

“When it came down to it,” King said, “when it was dire straights, everybody stood up. It was incredible.”