December 2001 Volume 82 Number 12 "serving the protectors"
We’re with you, New York
By Brett Williams

Intensely moved by the attack on America, one SA police officer decided he had to help. Now, he tells why he felt another nation’s trauma so deeply.

Peter Slater speaks of the September 11 terrorist attack on the US as a “gut-wrenching” day for him. On one hand, the tragedy left him numb and in disbelief while, on the other hand, his emotions ran high.

Slater had plenty of reason to feel the horror of the events so strongly. With his former American wife, he had lived and worked in the US, residing only 95km from Washington, DC.

He had also visited New York City, where he gazed upon its skyline from atop one of the now-destroyed Twin Towers. And, knowing the many skyscrapers and massive population around the World Trade Center, he expected a death toll as high as 20,000.

Through the 10 months he lived in America in 1991, he watched Desert Storm troops return from Kuwait. He immersed himself in, and absorbed something of, US culture.

So, with some understanding of the country’s psyche, he felt he knew how US citizens would be thinking. He sensed their intense pride and nationalism would fast emerge; that they would not “wear this (attack)”.

A 44-year-old police cadet poised to graduate at the time, Slater himself felt he should in some way be helping. “At lunchtime,” he says, “we would turn the television on, and it was a bit too close to home for me.

“When I heard the reports that 70-odd police were missing, I thought: ‘Here I am sitting on my arse watching television when I should be out there’.”

Being out there, of course, was not possible for Slater. But, after reading a Sunday newspaper, he soon conceived a plan through which he and his colleagues could help. The paper had published details of an international fund to support victims of the attack.

Slater simply figured he could start his own aid campaign at Fort Largs. First, he adorned an empty coffee tin with a homemade sign that read, Twin Towers Fund. Then, in late September, he set about collecting gold coin donations from his fellow cadets.

He set himself a target of $500, but did not then know of the Police Federation of Australia fund. Says Slater: “I went around and spoke to all the courses, mentors and bosses, rattled the can and refused to leave offices until they put in some money.

“Whenever I’d recognize a new group of people in the academy – like detective courses or an inspectors’ course – I’d grab the can, go over and speak to them. (This) included STAR Division people, who were doing a bit of training. I went over and kept trying to bleed them dry of a few coins.

“Most people were pretty good about it. One guy in the IT unit donated about $70, and he’d already donated to the federation fund. A few of the instructors and mentors put in $20s and $50s.

“A lot of people had donated to the federation fund, but that didn’t stop them throwing in money.”

After one week, Slater had collected $280. He then decided to position his collection can – and a small homemade poster – in the academy mess. The mealtime people traffic, he thought, would bring extra donations.

Meanwhile, Slater maintained his efforts in the field, approaching members of new courses. After a few more weeks, he calculated his total as still “a bit short”. But another idea came to him: an academy casual day for $1 per person.

“Normally with casual days,” says Slater, “the instructors and mentors stay in uniform, but they all came casual and donated again. I thought: ‘Here’s a lazy $150’, but we just tipped it over the top with another $200, which was great.”

By late October, Slater’s fundraising effort had brought $790, which he credited to the PFA fund account. He later paid tribute to the contributions his fellow cadets had so willingly made.

“Their reaction was terrific,” he says. “The bulk of the money came from the cadets, and the money we’re on isn’t great. Some of them were banging in $5 and $10.

“There’s a real camaraderie once the cadets put on the blue uniform. I put it to them that, at a different time and place, it could have been one of us (killed). I said it was fellow officers who’d gone (to their deaths).”

Slater was no newcomer to fundraising. For the Street Angels organization in his home state of Queensland, he had raised money for homeless and drug-addicted teens. Now, he hopes the money he raised at Fort Largs will in some way help fallen officers’ children.

“There’s nothing we can do for the officers who have been killed,” he says. “This was our way of saying to the New York coppers: ‘You’ve lost some colleagues, but we’re with you’. That’s what this was all about.”

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