Public Service Innovators -- Heeding the Call of September 11 Jim McShane, MPA '92

One of a series of profiles of members of the extended Kennedy School community who responded to the crisis after the September 11th attacks.

Jim McShane (MPA '92) was working out in the gym at the New York Police Department (NYPD) on West 30th Street on the morning of September 11, 2001, when one of his staff members burst into the room. "A plane had hit the World Trade Center, that's all I heard at that point," says McShane, commanding officer of the NYPD Traffic Control Division. He immediately ran down to his office, put on his uniform and ran out the door toward the World Trade Center. Then the second plane hit Tower Two.

"We were on the Westside Highway," says McShane. "You could see it from there. Every time I drive down there, I can still see it in my memory."

"All you could see were these two towers with smoke steaming out of them. First we thought it might have been an accident. Then the whole sky started filling up and as we got closer we could see debris - or what we thought was debris - coming down from the top of the buildings. As we got even closer, we discovered it was people falling from the buildings."

McShane and his partner soon found themselves at the corner of Vesey and West Streets, next to Tower One. From there, they turned left and drove up a block to Church Street. "It was ridiculous," he says, "We knew the tops of these buildings were going to come down and we were standing at the bottom. We can't have everyone come here. We were going to be killed."

Then the second tower began to fall. "We just ran," McShane remembers. "There was nothing between us and the second tower. It was catching up with us. We saw a store and dove in behind the counter there. The second tower blew right past us. The whole store went black, but we were safe."

Amidst this chaos, McShane remembers deriving strength from wearing his uniform - from having a role to play - on September 11. "I'm in charge of traffic," he says, no easy feat in New York City on the best of days. "We had to remove debris, get people in and out, restore traffic. Ad hoc decisions were made between city agencies right there on the street." Mcshane, who worked 16-hour days, six days a week well into November, says "when you put on that uniform, you're putting on this mantle of responsibility."

What has changed since September 11, says McShane, is the unprecedented affection and friendliness from the public toward cops. Westside Highway was closed until the spring due to the debris. "But every time we went there would be crowds of people with signs applauding us - they called it 'Hero Highway.'"

"We can be a surly lot," he says of his fellow officers, but working as a cop in the city today seems a lot like it must have been thirty years ago, he remarks, when "you're eating for free and everyone likes you."