n the day that will go down in history simply as 9/11, New York City police officers and others, without regard for their own safety, began the largest rescue-and-recovery operation of its kind ever known in this country.

Countless lives were saved as a result of the responders’ heroic efforts. In the following months, our officers spent endless days and untold hours at the WTC and other locations. It’s an effort we would like to see repeated if another tragedy of this magnitude strikes the city. Sadly, however, the Bloomberg administration and its NYPD are giving police officers and other first responders good reason to believe their efforts on 9/11 and in its aftermath have been forgotten.

Today no one disputes the fact that the air at Ground Zero, the Staten Island landfill and the morgue were permeated with toxins and carcinogens like lead, mercury, asbestos, dioxin, benzene, cadmium and PCBs. Apparently, this combination affected the human body in ways more lethal than exposure to one of these toxins alone.

It’s also evident that almost from the outset the government failed to live up to its obligations to protect the health and safety of the responders. Shortly after 9/11, the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement assuring those living and working in lower Manhattan that the air was safe, knowing full well that responders and residents would have relied upon such a pronouncement. No state or city agency contradicted that assessment. Moreover, responders worked with inadequate or no safety equipment during much of their time at Ground Zero. Nevertheless, most police officers we have spoken with have expressed no regrets about their efforts on 9/11 and the dangers they were exposed to. They just want assurances that they and their families will be taken care of in their hour of need.

An untold number of police officers are suffering illnesses from these exposures. The PBA believes, based on reports from its members, that various federal, state and city entities (including the NYPD) and other groups responsible for 9/11-related health issues have neglected their responsibility and in some cases have taken an incredibly hostile and adversarial position against those who have fallen ill.

Those adversarial actions include: wrongfully denying line-of-duty injury status, denying coverage for medical bills and prescription drug costs associated with WTC-related illnesses, designating as chronically sick (and subjecting to discipline) some officers suffering from WTC-related illnesses, and unjustifiably denying and delaying disability-pension applications for officers permanently disabled by exposures at Ground Zero, including applications filed under the WTC Presumption Bill, which was drafted specifically to address illnesses being suffered by WTC responders.