EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING (police)

After World War II, U.S. military personnel and citizens were highly involved in civil defense initiatives. Citizens would assist the military and other government agencies by checking borders for illegal immigrants, observing coastlines for foreign vessels, and watching the skies for foreign aircraft. Any transgressions would be immediately reported to the government, typically the military. These efforts were typical following the war, even during the years of the Cold War, but slowly waned as life returned to normal in America. Over time, civil defense gave way to emergency management, and the focus became both human-made and natural disasters. Emergency management was the byword for disaster preparedness until only a few short years ago.

The world was shocked on September 11, 2001, when terrorists used commercial airplanes owned by U.S. airline companies in a well-planned attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the World Trade Center towers in New York City. The loss of life caused by this terrorist attack was the largest to take place on American soil since the Civil War. In total, nearly three thousand people died, including police officers, firefighters, and other emergency personnel.

Levels of Responsibility

The responsibility for responding to emergencies and disasters, both natural and human-made, begins at the local level— in cities and towns. The next level of response is activated when the resources and capabilities of a municipality have been exhausted, and help is still needed. After this, a city or town calls on its county for assistance in coping with the disaster or emergency at hand. If all local efforts fail, and help is still needed, assistance is requested from the state. Most cities and towns, counties, and states have mutual aid agreements, whereby they provide assistance to one another, if necessary, when a natural or human-made disaster takes place, and these resources are also tapped in the event of an emergency. Once available local, state, and regional resources have been exhausted, the resources of the federal government are requested.

Table 1 illustrates the four levels of disaster and emergency management, from citizens through the federal government. While citizens are directly involved in level 1, other levels of involvement require the actions of public officials, at the local, state, and federal levels. Each level of government, once its resources and capabilities have been exhausted, must request assistance from the next higher level of government. This burden falls on municipal, county, and state officials.

Four Phases of Emergency Management

The terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, have launched a new wave of efforts by cities, counties, and states throughout the country to enhance their emergency management programs. Specifically, local, state, and federal officials have focused their attention on the four primary phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, which are explained in greater detail next.

Table 1 Emergency Management: Levels of Responsibility

Level 1—Citizens Level 2—Local Response . . . Cities and towns . . . Counties

. . . Mutual aid agreements Level 3—State Government

. . . Mutual aid agreements Level 4—Federal Government

• Mitigation: Mitigation includes efforts to prevent a human-made or natural disaster or to reduce its impact on the community. Mitigation involves an assessment of the threats facing a community, such as the likelihood of a natural disaster, such as a snowstorm, hurricane, or flooding, or a human-made disaster, such as a terrorist attack. This initial phase of emergency management involves an assessment of the possible venues, or sites, where a disaster would likely take place. Mitigation is an ongoing process, with continual reassessments done as needed to ensure proper preparedness by local officials.

• Preparedness: City and county officials must be prepared to respond properly to disasters of all types, including terrorist attacks. Preparedness includes proper planning, resource allocation, training, and conducting simulated disaster response exercises. It is important to conduct simulated disaster exercises to ensure that skills, equipment, and other resources can be effectively coordinated when an emergency occurs. Simulated disaster exercises also provide a good opportunity to identify organizational and departmental shortcomings, and provide time to take corrective action before an actual event takes place.

• Response: A local government’s response to a human-made or natural disaster has many components. If possible, the jurisdiction must issue appropriate warnings to the public and keep citizens informed of an agency’s ongoing recovery efforts.

Donations from the public must be accepted and properly managed. Mass care and sheltering may also be necessary, depending on the type and magnitude of the disaster. Proper incident management and coordination are essential. Emergency services and hospital/medical care must be provided. Other important aspects of the response phase include search and rescue operations, evacuation of citizens according to established procedures, damage assessments, and the proper handling and management of on-site fatalities.

• Recovery: After a natural or human-made disaster takes place, the cleanup of debris, the restoration of the environment, the reinstitution of public services, and the rebuilding of the public infrastructure are all necessary to restore civic life to a community. This phase of the emergency response typically also includes disaster assistance, for both citizens and their local governments, and crisis counseling, for both civilians and public safety employees (for example, typically those on-site emergency response employees such as police and fire personnel).

Departmental Responsibilities

Local government employees from numerous departments are involved in the four phases of emergency management. They include executive-level personnel, public safety employees (for example, sworn police officers and firefighters), public health officials, public works employees, as well as those employees working for non-for-profit public utility companies. Traditionally, police and fire personnel have been involved in responding to disasters, both natural and human-made. After September 11,2001, other local public officials have been actively involved in a local government’s response (for example, public works and public health officials).

The public officials involved in emergency planning and management at the local level are several. Cities and towns most likely designate the position of emergency management coordinator to an existing full-time police or fire employee. This function winds up as one of his or her collateral duties. In larger cities, there may be a part-time or even a full-time emergency management coordinator or director. Most county governments have full-time emergency management directors. In both smaller cities and counties, this person would report to the police or fire chief. In the case of larger cities and towns, this person would report to the city or town manager. In larger cities and counties, this person would report directly to his or her chief executive officer.

The emergency management coordinator or director is assisted by, and coordinates the efforts of, several employees in departments that perform disaster-related services (that is, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery). These departments contain sworn personnel, such as police officers and firefighters, as well as other employees who work in public works and health departments. It is also a common practice for local governments to have a citizens’ advisory committee that works with the emergency management coordinator or director. The names of these departments, as well as the titles of their directors, change from city to county government. The most common titles given to these emergency management personnel are shown in Table 2. Note that the functions of local governments, and the names of their departments, change from state to state. Some services may also be provided by special districts or private utility companies.

Most states throughout the nation have a full-time director of emergency services, or an official with a similar title, who is appointed by the state government. Since September 11, 2001, the titles of these positions have changed to reflect additional duties related to homeland security. These officials, in some states, may even be called director of homeland security. However, they typically still perform the duties and responsibilities of a director of emergency management or director of emergency services. With the advent of the national focus on homeland security, the various facets of emergency management at the state and local level are now being reviewed and expanded to include human-made disasters, in addition to natural disasters, which had traditionally been the focus of emergency management after the Cold War.

Managing Emergency Incidents

The way the United States prepares for and responds to emergency incidents changed in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was not designed to be an abrupt change, but a gradual one. The best practices that have evolved over the years are part of the new comprehensive national approach known as the National Incident Management System (NIMS). NIMS was developed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2004. NIMS represents a core set of doctrines, principles, terminology, and organizational processes to enable effective, efficient, and collaborative incident management at all levels of government to properly respond to emergencies. The role of the private sector is also included in this model. The role of responders is defined in advance, along with common sets of protocols, so that all agencies work together seamlessly when responding to a disaster. NIMS training is now commonplace in the federal and state governments. An increasing number of training programs are also being offered to local governments throughout the nation with funds provided by the federal government. NIMS will enable responders from all levels of government, and across all functional jurisdictions, to work together more effectively and efficiently when responding to emergencies. In fact, beginning in 2006, all federal funding for state and local government preparedness grants will be tied to compliance with the NIMS requirements.

Table 2 City and County Departments Involved in Emergency Management

One of the most important ”best practices” that has been incorporated into NIMS is the Incident Command System (ICS). ICS is a standard, on-scene, all-hazards incident management system already in use by firefighters, hazardous materials teams, rescuers, and emergency medical teams. The ICS has been established by NIMS as the standardized incident organizational structure for the management of all incidents. This model of emergency response was developed to facilitate coordination of on-site activities by all agencies when responding to a disaster. All levels of government have ICS plans in advance that include common terminology, the organizational structure of on-scene personnel, how to deal with the press and public, and designating an on-scene chain of command. Reliance is also placed on an incident action plan. On-scene personnel may also assume other roles, different from their regular job titles, such as public information officer, safety officer, and liaison officer. ICS classes are now being offered by the Department of Homeland Security to state and local government officials. The implementation of the NIMS approach to dealing with emergencies will essentially institutionalize the use of ICS throughout the nation as the response system for all levels of government as they work together to respond to disasters.

In case of a large disaster, either natural or human-made, all responding agencies, at all levels of government and in the private sector, must work closely together to limit the loss of life and property. The purpose of the ICS is to have an established and standardized local response to emergencies within the national framework provided by NIMS. In fact, the DHS has established the NIMS Integration Center (NIC) to develop a common understanding and application of the ICS process among all stakeholders, including tribal nations and the private sector. This focus will continue in future years.

Individual public agencies are now conducting more disaster exercises than ever before to test their skills. The number of multiple public agency disaster exercises is also on the increase. It is better for officials in public agencies to fine-tune their skills before an actual disaster takes place. Here are a number of major national trends in emergency planning and management:

• Advanced training for public safety employees

• Crisis counseling for public safety employees

• Designation of building evacuation routes

• Early warning public notification systems

• Expanded geographic information systems

• Greater use of the Incident Command System

• Immediate public assistance to the needy

• Measures to improve building safety

• Mutual aid agreements for public safety services

• New federal assistance programs

• Simulated disaster exercises

• Threat analysis and assessment practices

• Updated emergency response plans

• Use of the National Incident Management System

As citizens become increasingly aware of the resources and agencies involved in emergency planning and management, it is helpful to familiarize themselves with the acronyms by which these resources and agencies are commonly known:

ARC American Red Cross ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives CBRRT Chemical and Biological Rapid Response Team CISM Critical Incident Stress Management

DHS Department of Homeland Security

DMAT Disaster Medical Assistance Team

DMORT Disaster Mortuary Response Team

DOJ Department of Justice EOP Emergency Operations Plan ERRT Emergency Rapid Response Team

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency ICS Incident Command System

IRZ Immediate Response Zone NDPO National Disaster Preparedness Office

NECC National Emergency Coordination Center NIMA National Incident Management System NIMS National Incident Management System PDA Preliminary Damage Assessment

PTE Potential Threat Analysis RERT Radiological Emergency Response Team SRT Search Response Team

The Future

In the era of homeland security, the field of emergency management once again has a civil defense focus. Citizens and the private sector are being encouraged to assist governments in their efforts to prevent a possible terrorist attack, such as the one that took place on September 11, 2001. The emphasis is not only on being prepared to respond, but on proper planning that includes citizens, the private sector, and non-for-profit organizations. New emergency planning and management practices will continue to evolve, and the existing practices will continually be fine-tuned to limit the loss of life and property during an emergency.

During the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, the United States has evolved from civil defense, to emergency management, to the new field of homeland security. Both public and private sectors are working closely together in the new field of homeland security, which has incorporated major aspects of emergency management. The principles and practices of emergency management will be with us forever, notwithstanding what the government agencies are called that oversee them.