Phyllis Johnson (PJ) and Danny Perasa (DP)
PJ: My job was to take the reports from police officers—type the up on the actual forms. And i used to fuss and say, ”look at these guys, they don’t know how to write, their grammar is atrocious. And one of the cops said, ”Oh, you think you can do better?” and I said, ”Yes I can! So he takes an application for the police department and says, ”Here fill this out, I’ll even pay your filing fee.” So I filled it out and the next thing I know, they called me to come own and join the police force.
DP: What was your first assignment?
PJ: My first assignment—they sent me out to Rockaway, Queens. I was one of the smallest officers that they had out there. I was only like 98 pounds at the time. And somehow—people must’ve wanted to be arrested or something. They would just do stupid things in front of me. Next thing I know, I was locking them up and bringing them in to the desk officer. And it would happen so often that all the old-timers, they say, ”I don’t believe this. We’re gonna start calling her ’Lock-em-up PJ’ ’cause I would loc anybody up. If you did something crazy in front of me, you were certainly gonna go to jail that day.
DP: Were you still on the force on 9/11?
PJ: Yes. That was one of the worst says in my career.
DP: How soon after 9/11 did you leave your department?
PJ: It was three months to the day. December 11. And prior to December 11, we were assigned to go to the Staten Island dump because that’s where they were taking all the debris. And they told us, ”You have several buckets here; there’s bucket for body parts, if you happen to find body parts.” And they had buckets if you found anything that would identify a person, if you found a wallet or jewelry or something like that. So one night, it was pouring down raining and I remember I had my haz-mat suit on. And I was so tired and I just turned the bucket over and I set down and all the methane gas was starting to bubble up through all of this dirt and filth and all of the water was just pouring down my face and I just said, ”God, I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t do it anymore.” The vey next day, I got up and I told them, I said, ”I want to put in my papers.” I turned in my weapons and when I walked out of the front door of One Police Plaza, I really never looked back. I just sat down on a bench and I said, ”Thank you God. I made it.”
DP: Did you feel like you were doing good for people in the police department?
PJ: You know, I tried to better other people’s lives. And I think i made a difference with a lot of them. I hope I did.
