# Caroline Dare oral history interview conducted by Laurel Gumpert, July 16, 2020

On the morning of 9/11, Caroline, an officer in the NYPD, was driving through downtown Brooklyn with her partner when they noticed smoke coming from the World Trade Center. When she realized it was an attack, she immediately drove to the site with several officers. They did their best to keep people away from the building during the chaos. Caroline heard a crackling sound and looked up to see the building coming down. In the next moment, everything was white, and she found herself covered in thick dust. She remained at the site until about 1:00 am and was called back in at 8:00 am the next morning. Caroline worked twenty days straight from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am. After that, she went back to regular tours. A few days each week, she was assigned to Ground Zero, mostly guiding the public to information outlets and helping maintain peace in the surrounding communities. During this time, Caroline remembers being appreciated by the public and a shared unity among New Yorkers. In the years after 9/11, Caroline became more vigilant and more suspicious of things out of the ordinary. She hopes that people can channel their strong emotions into positive change for the future, while taking past mistakes into account. Caroline hopes people never forget those who respond during emergencies because they will always be there, no matter what.

- Kind: Interview
- Year: 2020
- Runtime: 53 min
- By: Dare, Caroline
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2015048_452/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/afc2015048_452?play=1)