It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since 9/11.

As we mourn for the more than 3,000 people who lost their lives on that terrible, tragic day, we want also to remember with heartfelt gratitude the first responders who rushed in to rescue so many survivors and provide emergency medical care that saved lives.

Those first responders, and the thousands of others who work to keep the rest of us safe every single day, are the reason our company is in the business of public safety software. These brave police officers, firefighters, and EMS providers put their lives at risk on the line of duty, so the rest of us can go about our daily lives.

Unfortunately, we’ve had several sad reminders of that this year with the shooting of policemen in Dallas, the loss of firefighters to wildfires out West, and too many others that go largely unnoticed.

We are proud of the small part we play in helping public safety officials and first responders operate more efficiently, more smoothly, and especially more safely. And on this sad anniversary, we want to share a story of how we were privileged to lend our resources to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001.

We all remember where we were on that day. For many of us at KOVA, we were at our headquarters in Little Egg Harbor, a mere hour and a half away from New York City. Like so many across the United States, many of us felt helpless. As an organization, we wanted to help however we could.

When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) lost its Emergency Operations Center in the attacks, we reached out to our contacts in their engineering department to offer our assistance in any way we could.

The PANYNJ accepted our offer. Their request was for a large capacity recording solution that could accommodate the new temporary Emergency Operations Center that they were creating.

Thanks to our wide network of specialists, we were able to assemble and install the equipment within 20 hours of the request. We also were able to provide training on the new system to PANYNJ employees. KOVA established that the services were free and the solution was on loan for as long as it was needed.

Shortly after, the PANYNJ needed assistance in creating large volumes of copies of recordings from their legacy recorders. These needed to be in digital format for ease of dispersal to investigative entities.

We were eager to help once again, and so we devised a method to transfer audio from their legacy system, convert it into a digital format, and provide a mass copy procedure to facilitate the discovery request.

Three years later, when a permanent PANYNJ Emergency Operations Center was being rebuilt, the organization wanted to buy the solution. Although we informed them that it was an open-ended loan and no payment was necessary, they would not take no for an answer.

So, instead of just issuing an invoice, we provided the organization with a brand new solution, complete with the latest hardware and software technology, and transferred all of their data over. We were also told that KOVA was one of three companies that did not charge the PANYNJ for their services during the Sept. 11 attacks and aftermath.  

We share this story not because we want to illustrate our own virtue - we simply did what was right to help our country, just like so many other Americans did on that day and in the months and years afterward.

We share this story because we want our readers and clients to know that we understand just how important our work is to the public safety communities that we serve.

If computer systems go out, it can have major adverse effects on the safety of not just everyday civilians, but of our law enforcement and emergency personnel as well. KOVA is dedicated to making sure public safety organizations have the hardware and software they need to do their jobs as well as possible. We are extremely grateful to be able to work with those who keep our country safe.