PANYNJ Graduates ESO Class, including K-9s, and remembers this lost on 9/11

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will hold a graduation ceremony at Newark Liberty International Airport for 10 officers who will be joining the Port Authority Police Department’s (PAPD) Emergency Service Unit (ESU), as well as two K-9 officers and their human handlers.

In keeping with PAPD tradition, the new K-9 officers are named in honor of officers the department lost on 9/11. K-9s Nati and Tiej pay tribute to Officers Nathaniel Webb and Kenneth F. Tietjen.

Officer Webb served for 28 years and was one of three Port Authority officers assigned to the Holland Tunnel who lost their lives on Sept.11. He was a recipient of both the Meritorious Active-Duty Award and a Police Command Citation.

Officer Tietjen was stationed at the 33rd Street PATH station on Sept. 11, commandeering a taxi to reach the World Trade Center. He helped evacuate victims, some severely burned, from the North Tower. He took the last available respirator and entered the South Tower moments before it collapsed.

The ceremony will also include 10 officers trained by PAPD from the police departments of Jersey City, N.J., Paterson, N.J., the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and NJ TRANSIT.

WHO: Greg Ehrie, chief security officer, Port Authority

Michael Brown, deputy superintendent of police, Port Authority

Human and K-9 graduates

WHEN: 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 22

WHERE: Hangar 54, Newark Liberty International Airport Brewster Road Newark, N.J.