Ordinary people often look at the various sections of the municipal budget and just shake their heads in disbelief at the amount of money being spent by departments.
We are sure that these same people question the Revere Police Department budget.
Since 9/11, security needs of any community and the ways that we must now deal with the increasing threat from terrorists have changed dramatically. And so have the costs.
A case in point is the Marathon Bombing.
Like most people in the Commonwealth, we were mesmerized by the coverage of the bombing by the media and never more so then on Thursday night and Friday as the quickly unfolding and changing scenarios occurred on almost hourly basis.
At 6:00 p.m. on Friday, when the Governor lifted the stay at home order and the fugitive was still at large, we braced ourselves for possibly more explosions and deaths in the coming days.
We then turned off the TV and went downstairs to get some dinner.
Turning on the radio at about 6:45 p.m. we heard about a suspect on Franklin Street in Watertown, just outside of the search perimeter.
We immediately raced upstairs and turned on the television.
For the next hour and half, we were fixated as the drama with gunfire and reports came across the television screen.
Finally, the moment we had hoped for came at 8:30 p.m. with the word across the face of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — CAPTURED.
We rejoiced with our family, knowing that for the time being we as a community were safe.
What we did not know is that our own Police Chief Joe Cafarelli and his North Metro SWAT team were responsible for the capture of the suspect alive on that Friday night.
The days since the capture have become a chance to end our surreal exposure into the modern world of terrorism that kills and maims innocent civilians, including children.
Unfortunately, we know that terrorism will again surface in our country’s borders whether by foreign nationals or our own citizens.
We know that more women and children will be killed and maimed.
We know that this is the world that our children will inherit.
We know that for a vast majority of plots, the terrorists will be stopped before they can carry out the deadly plans by our security forces. But we also know that the terrorists will succeed in just a few of their deadly bombings and this small percentage is still not acceptable as a member of the human race.
As a taxpayer, we have a new appreciation of what the local police go through and the professionalism that they display with their actions on a daily basis.
As someone who was held hostage by the events of last week, we are grateful for a well prepared and committed police force.
As a resident of Revere, we are more secure in this increasingly insecure world knowing that our police force has the right stuff to combat the unthinkable actions of today’s criminal.
We join others in congratulating Chief Cafarelli and his SWAT team members for a job well done.
