2011 World Police & Fire Games: Camaraderie and competition

The author, Terrence P. Dwyer is a full-time Assistant Professor in the Justice and Law Administration Department at Western Connecticut State University and an attorney in private practice representing a law enforcement union. In 2007 Terry retired after a 22-year-career with the New York State Police.

The biennial World Police and Fire Games were held in New York City for the 10 year memorial tribute to the victims and first responders who perished during the 9/11 terror attacks.

Nobody told Mother Nature that 16,000 cops and firefighters had travelled from regions near and far to run, swim, box, sail, shoot, lift weights, and engage in the many team sports being contested.

Many athletes arrived in NYC on Thursday and Friday, August 25 and 26, only to be met with the wrath of Hurricane Irene the following Saturday, the first full day of competition.

Despite the short-term damper of Hurricane Irene, the games were back in full swing on Monday, August 29.

Admittedly there were problems in the way the games were run. In talking to other athletes and reading daily posts on the World Police and Fire Games Connect Platform it was evident that many participants were upset. Natural disaster aside, there were other glitches, miscues, and planning-related issues that athletes cited for these games.

As my wife and I left the city that first Friday of the games amidst the tangle of early storm evacuees making their way north to safer ground via the West Side highway and Riverside Drive, members of the Australian cycling team could be seen biking along traffic and sightseeing by Grant’s Tomb.

Just as my excitement over competing in the games was not going to be diminished by the approach of Hurricane Irene, I could sense that the competitive fires of the thousands of other athletes would not be either.

There was also a Canadian group with their distinctive red and white uniforms with large red maple leaf spotted along 33rd street with a member of the group walking alongside in her dress Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform. Not a common sight for busy, seen-it-all New Yorkers.

My personal take on the 2011 World Police and Fire Games was that they were a blast. The competition was first class, the other officers and firefighters I met were superb and the general spirit of those competing, along with that of their friends and family who came to support and cheer them on, could not be suppressed by the hurricane or planning issues.

Just like the Michigan cop and Spanish firefighter I met on my last day of competition, I am already planning for Belfast in 2013.

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