Father, daughter policing by land and sea during 4th of July festivities

It’s all hands on deck this Fourth of July for a father and daughter from Staten Island. 

Deputy Chief Terence Hurson, executive officer of Patrol Borough Staten Island, and his daughter Shannon Hurson, a U.S. Coast Guard second-class petty officer, are both providing security in New York Harbor during the Sail4th tall ship parade and Macy’s Fireworks this weekend. 

Shannon, who’s usually stationed on Lake Michigan, jumped at the chance to work near her 55-year-old dad when she got the chance, she said.  

“He’s been talking about this event for a while,” she said. “So I was really excited to jump on the opportunity to be in the same vicinity as my dad working in New York Harbor where I grew up.”

The 22-year-old, who was an NYPD Explorer when she was in high school, is among about 250 members of the Coast Guard in the city this weekend. 

Some of them are in the harbor and others are at a command center located at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 11th Avenue in Manhattan.

While her dad will be on the land doing his job, Shannon will be on a 29-foot response boat looking for threats, “checking the overall safety” and looking for law-breakers, she said.

Shannon has worked on a search and recovery team and received law enforcement training in her regular job, she said. She’s also been trained in how to make an ice rescue because Lake Michigan freezes over for part of the year.

But her favorite thing about the job is “just being out on the water and being able to help people in different situations,” she said.

Her dad, who has almost 33 years at the NYPD, recalled being worried when she left home after high school.

“I supported her because it’s what she wanted to do but being her dad I was nervous when she went to boot camp,” he said. “But when she came out for her graduation ceremony I was very proud of her and she was beaming with pride.”

His daughter has served in the Coast Guard for four years, took the NYPD exam and hopes to follow in her dad’s footsteps soon, she said, calling the Harbor Unit her “golden ticket.”

Her dad has been her biggest inspiration, she added.

“He always seemed like he was helping people,” she said. “I really admired that growing up. So it was always in the back of my mind.”