Justin DePasquale knows very well the importance of remembering 9/11. He just tries not to remember all of the things he saw that day as an NYPD recruit yanked out of training and thrust into the chaos in Lower Manhattan.
“People say, ‘Never forget,” said DePasquale, who recently started as an officer with the South Carolina Bureau of Protective Services. “But there are some things you try not to remember — the visuals, working on the pile, working at the temporary morgues. You remember a lot of it. It all stands out.”
A lifelong New Yorker, DePasquale was born in Queens and grew up on Long Island. Following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, DePasquale knew serving in law enforcement was his future. He joined the New York Police Department in July 2001 at the age of 24. He was barely two months into his training when the terror attacks of Sept. 11 brought the world to a halt, and he and his fellow recruits were pulled from their training and bussed into
Lower Manhattan.
“As soon as we heard the first plane hit, we were all mobilized. Everybody was trying to get there to help. We had no authorization, no police powers,” he recalled. “We were just kids, most of us.”
For three straight weeks without a day off, DePasquale and his fellow recruits, put in grueling 18-hour days searching the rubble of the World Trade Center, working the temporary morgues, and escorting people to retrieve their belongings from Ground Zero. Despite the long hours, the raw emotion, and the haunting images that are seared into his memory, DePasquale said the experience cemented his decision to enter law enforcement and to complete his training when they returned to the academy in November 2001.
“I knew I was in the right profession,” he said. “It was eye-opening. I wish it didn’t happen, of course, but seeing and working with the guys and girls — it was a brotherhood and a sisterhood.”
Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, DePasquale jumped at an opportunity to join the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau. For DePasquale, who has sat through countless funerals for first responders killed in the attacks and those who have since died from illnesses stemming from Ground Zero, it was a way to focus on the future and not the past.
“I try not to think too much about it. It’s always there. I’m never going to forget it,” he said. “I just try to look forward and prevent things like that from happening again.”
DePasquale ended up serving 20 years with the NYPD, working everything from robberies and gang activity, to presidential visits and meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, to New Year’s Eve in Times Square and the U.S. Tennis Open. But by 2021, the daily grind of the job was weighing on him, along with the two-hour commute, overcrowding in the city, and the social unrest that had gripped most of the country in 2020.
“I looked at my wife when 2020 was coming to an end and said, ‘I think I’m done with New York,’” he recalled. With both DePasquale and his wife having family in the Lowcountry and Upstate, they packed up and moved to South Carolina in 2021 without hesitation.
After a chance encounter with SCDPS Director Robert G. Woods, IV more than a year after they moved south, Woods encouraged DePasquale to consider the Department of Public Safety. DePasquale researched the agency and became intrigued by the Bureau of Protective Services, specifically with how well his experience with counterterrorism, risk assessments, threat assessments, and executive protection aligned with the mission of BPS.
DePasquale joined BPS in May 2023, spending the past few months assigned to the State House and familiarizing himself with the center of South Carolina’s state government. He plans to try out for BPS’ Critical Incident Team, which trains to respond to riots, active shooters, and other threats at the capitol complex.
“Since retiring from the NYPD and joining BPS, Officer DePasquale has seamlessly integrated his vast knowledge and experience into our agency,” BPS Chief of Police Matthew Calhoun said. “He has proven to be a tremendous asset, enhancing our department’s capabilities and contributing to our mission with integrity, service, and professionalism.”
While it was a big change coming from one of the largest police departments in the country to the Bureau of Protective Services, DePasquale appreciates the family-oriented atmosphere of BPS, which Chief Calhoun says is a hallmark of their division.
“I’m coming from a department that didn’t care what I really thought. It was just, ‘You have your job to do, so do it,’” DePasquale said. “They (BPS) are very welcoming, and so far everyone I’ve come across has just been super nice. It was an easy adjustment coming into the department. BPS is now part of my family.”
So far, life down south moves at a much slower and tolerable pace. For the DePasquale family, after years of traffic, skyscrapers, bright lights, loud noises, and harsh winters, it is a welcome change.
“We’re not sitting in traffic. I can tell you that,” he said with a chuckle. “We can sit back and relax and enjoy watching our kids get older. It’s just quiet. There’s not as much background noise. You can think without being overwhelmed and our kids are really thriving here.”
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