TORRINGTON – Twenty-three years ago, the United States was under attack. Since then, changes have been made to keep the country safer. According to Torrington Police Department Chief Matt Johnson, there were three big changes made to law enforcement. 

When the events of 9/11 took place, Johnson was just starting off as an officer. He was at the academy at the time. His wife had called and told him something big was happening. He sat down with the other officers at the academy and watched the second tower fall. Johnson said he knew in the moment, big changes were coming. 

The first change he noted in law enforcement was the shift of the way officers thought and viewed things in their day to day lives. It started off with them only needing to be concerned about the usual crimes. After 9/11 they had to wonder if the person they were stopping could be a terrorist.

“The paradigm shift for law enforcement officers where prior to 9/11. Our focus was really strictly on crime that was happening in our local jurisdictions. And after 9/11 that focus broadened exponentially to looking at international terrorism right on our doorstep. That was a radical change for us and something that took a while to get used to. it was far different to pull over a car and only be thinking about things like DUI or theft or drugs or what have you, as opposed to considering whether or not the person driving that car could be an actor of international terrorism against our country. So, that was a big change for law enforcement, and it took some getting used to,” Johnson shared. 

Another change Johnson noted was the increase in communication between agencies. Before 9/11 the information you could access was a decent amount. It was just what was documented about a person locally. There wasn’t much for communication outside of the county about things. After 9/11 the agencies became far more connected. The information made accessable was significantly more. 

“The significant change and increase in cooperation and communication between law enforcement agencies and especially between federal law enforcement agencies and local or state law enforcement agencies. Prior to 9/11, there certainly had been some communication between local and federal organizations or law enforcement organizations. But after 911, all of the information that local and state agencies needed to be effective in interdicting and preventing international terrorism on our doorstep was provided by federal agencies. And so that communication became infinitely more important and the amount of information that was available to us increased exponentially and sometimes that almost felt overwhelming. It felt like you were drinking from a firehose trying to digest all of that information and it was just a radical change,” Johnson stated. 

The final big change Johnson shared was how the way they responded to situations changed. Before 9/11, law enforcement a little safer for officers. They worked to devise a plan to go in and tame things until everyone was safe. It was time consuming, and they had to worry about the amount of loss of life during the time it took to make the plan. Johnson noted how now, the purpose for a lot of these attacks were to take as many lives as quick as possible.  Law enforcement now has to go in and assist as quickly as possible to prevent this. 

“9/11 reinforced and continued the changes that began at Columbine where law enforcement transitioned from a very terrible, almost stoic, in the response, I guess would be the right way to say that, to dynamic incidents," Johnson explained. "And we had to move into a much more rapid, threat based, decision making model. You were prepared to be far more dynamic in our response, so that we can save the lives of people that we had sworn to protect. And I think that that has continued today. I think that was certainly a very positive change, but it was one that took some getting used to and required us to provide a lot more training and more opportunities for success for law enforcement services, so that they could be ready to act in pretty terrifying circumstances.” 

Johnson also shared how be believes the events of 9/11 united the country in a way it had not united before, or since. If he had a wish, he wishes we were united like in the same way again. 

“It was an event that I think everybody experienced at the same time that forever changed our perspective. Watching that happen was a paradigm shift that took us as an entire nation and feeling that we were largely immune to those types of incidents happening and he we had to face the stark, cold reality that people who wish to hurt us from outside of our borders, could reach into the United States and do so. That was initially terrifying, but it pulled people together to fight against evil in a way that we really haven’t seen for many years before 9/11 occurred and it left us with that ongoing remembrance and sometimes fear. But hopefully, we’re more of an awareness, being that we need to be alert, and we need to be simply taking action to make sure that we’re safe,” Johnson said. 

A number of things has changed in the last 23 years, but for law enforcement, especially our local chief, these were a few big ones. This 9/11 be mindful of the actions in which have been placed to prevent our harm, and our first responders who fight for our safety every day.