PAPBA hails 9-11 Fund
Congress Bill aids the sick
Statement by Paul Nunziato,
president, Port Authority
Police Benevolent Association,
regarding the United
States Senate Passage of the
9/11 Victim Compensation
Fund Continuation Bill.
“This Bill not only represents
the sacrifice of 37 Port
Authority police officers, 23
New York City police officers
and 343 New York City firefighters
but, the countless first
responders from throughout
our nation that came running
to Ground Zero to assist with
the rescue and recovery efforts.
This is about the patriotism
of iron workers, operating
10 AIRPORT VOICE, AUGUST 2019
engineers, the building
trades, doctors, nurses and
the countless others that ran
to help.
This is about ordinary citizens
who went to work and
found themselves the victims
of the worse attack on American
soil since Pearl Harbor.
This is about everyone who
was affected by the attacks
and every family that lost and
continue to lose loved ones.
My fellow first responders
and I never hesitated when
you needed us, and we never
will. Now, 18 years later, you
are honoring your commitment
to Never Forget.
To our brothers and sisters
who are sick and dying, we
will never forget your commitment
and sacrifice.
I thank Senators Gillabrand
and Schumer along
with the members of the
United States Senate and
House of Representatives who
honored their commitment to
Never Forget.”
NOTE: The Port Authority
Police Department holds the
unfortunate distinction of suffering
the greatest number of
line-of-duty deaths in a single
incident, the 37 PAPD officers
killed on September 11, 2001,
at the World Trade Center, in
the history of American law
enforcement. A piece of steel from the WTC as JFK Memorial. Photo by Jeff Yapalater
Initiative in keepng bathrooms clean which is most important
to travelers.
JFK customers satisfaction
Report shows yearly improvement
Some of the many NYPD Counterterrorism officers
with their specially trained dogs await their turn for
training.
In a General Manager’s report issued by
Charles Everett of JFK Airport it stated:
“It is my pleasure to share with you the ACIASQ
Q2 2019 results that demonstrate airport passenger
overall satisfaction across EWR, JFK, and
LGA improved significantly when compared to
the same time last year for the third consecutive
quarter.”
In particular, here at John F. Kennedy International
Airport (JFK):
At JFK, overall customer satisfaction improved
significantly, when compared to last year,
for both business and leisure travelers as well as
across nearly all airport facility elements such as
airport staff courtesy, eating and shopping facilities,
and restroom cleanliness and availability.
There was especially strong improvement for Internet/
Wi-Fi access (3.82, up .59). When comparing
quarter-to-quarter results, JFK showed a decline
from last quarter’s satisfaction numbers,
particularly in areas like check-in, security, and
wayfinding, likely stemming from the increased
passenger volumes the airport handled during
the second quarter. Nevertheless, the year-overyear
significant improvement illustrates the
progress we have made thus far and reiterates
the importance of our efforts to improve the customer
experience at JFK.
K-9s converge at JFK
Bomb sniffer training
The TSA agency at JFK
Airport held joint training
and best practices exercises
for K-9s recently at
a warehouse facility there.
Periodically the various
local, state and federal
agencies including NYPD,
PAPD, Customs and others
gather at JFK Airport
and use a cargo building
to emulate a more realistic
environment for the
dogs in detecting their
trained objects.
The NYPD has a large
contingent of dogs that are
specifically trained
to detect explosives as
shown in the photo. There
were a dozen or more dogs
at JFK eager to participate
by pulling their handlers
towards the dimmed
warehouse. Asked if there
was one “star” dog in the
group, one officer said, “
they are all stars or would
not be in this unit.”
All the handlers are
paired with their dogs and
create a bond of trust, dependability
and love often
living with them as pets.
JFK is served by a few
different canine units; one
from TSA which sniffs departing
passengers at terminals,
CBP had dogs
sniffing for drugs at the
mailing facility, the PAPD
has its own for various
NYPD officers bringing their canines to the multi-agency wide
training day. Photo by Jeff Yapalater
missions, and the new
third party program will
allow for cargo related inspections
to be performed
by outside companies that
have been certified by the
government to use their
dogs and not just by the
agencies themselves.
There is a lot of talk of
automation, but according
to all the K-9 experts,
there is nothing like the
nose of a dog to sniff out
anything for which they
are trained.