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DISASTER.TXT
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1991-01-08
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December 1990
DIASTER OPERATIONS: NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
By
Michael Guerin
Assistant Chief, Law Enforcement Division
Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Ontario, California
At 5:03 p.m. on October 17, 1989, law enforcement personnel
throughout Northern California's Bay Area were taking crime
reports, investigating traffic accidents, issuing citations,
patrolling the streets, and suppressing criminal activity. By
5:05 p.m., all the rules had changed. A major earthquake shook
the area, causing death, destruction, and chaos.
All too often, when disasters occur, law enforcement
officials simply comment, "It's business as usual, just more of
it." Unfortunately, experience has shown that this is not the
case. In fact, given any disaster situation, law enforcement
agencies must alter their priorities, operations, and schedules
to meet emergency demands.
This article reviews several issues related to the manner
in which law enforcement agencies operate after a disaster
occurs. It considers what police have learned from past
disasters so that they can prepare better for these crisis
situations and provide a complete emergency response. Then, the
article covers critical law enforcement priorities after a
disaster occurs. These include maintaining police operations,
informing the public, dispatching personnel and equipment, and
light rescue and evacuation operations. Finally, it provides
information on how managers can establish disaster operations
plans for their agencies, regardless of size.
LESSONS LEARNED
In order to best allocate law enforcement resources, a
review of police experiences during past disasters provides key
information on which to base future emergency responses.
Analysis of information obtained during post-disaster interviews
clears up some misconceptions police administrators may have
regarding disaster operations.
First, patterns of criminal activity do not change
dramatically when disaster strikes. Despite media reports to
the contrary, looting is not prevalent in the hours following a
disaster. For example, after the October California earthquake,
only 2 law enforcement agencies out of over 100 noted any
quake-related thefts during the emergency period. These were
isolated, not widespread, cases. However, looting is possible
in areas where social unrest and poor economic conditions
already exist. For example, much of the media coverage of
looting after Hurricane Hugo devastated parts of the eastern
seaboard showed footage from the U.S. Virgin Islands; yet,
incidents of looting in the Carolinas were rare.
Second, there is a myth that the public is uncooperative
and subject to panic after a disaster. However, past experience
shows that just the opposite is true. In fact, law enforcement
agencies have difficulties in handling the over-abundance of
volunteers. Citizens are highly motivated to cooperate or offer
assistance after a disaster, and agencies should plan ways to
best use this enormous pool of volunteer energy, consistent with
public safety concerns. Experience also shows that panic only
occurs when there is a lack of consistent, visible leadership.
Where local officials work as a team, set priorities, and keep
the public informed, the public reacts accordingly.
Another misconception involves police invulnerability.
Since they often face difficult circumstances under
fast-changing conditions, law enforcement personnel believe they
can instantly adapt their daily operations to disaster
conditions. Therefore, they give little thought to disaster
training and planning. Administrators tend to overlook the
safety of their own facilities and the readiness of their
equipment, as well as a lack of policy and proper training for
disaster situations.
Finally, experience has shown that law enforcement agencies
need to better integrate their operations during emergencies.
Clearly, however, there are more tasks to be performed during an
emergency than just maintaining order and providing security.
DISASTER AFTERMATH
Identifying law enforcement priorities after a disaster
occurs is critical. Maintaining police services, assessing
overall damage, assisting in light rescue operations, and
coordinating security are realistic objectives. These can be
handled with a high degree of efficiency and effectiveness if
proper planning and training takes place before the emergency
occurs. Then, if a disaster does occur, agency personnel will
be prepared to provide a complete emergency response.
Maintaining Police Operations
After any disaster occurs, law enforcement agencies must
initiate steps to ensure that police operations can be
maintained. Clearly, agencies may need to consider facility
evacuation plans, as well as alternative arrangements for
carrying on critical functions, given a building evacuation.
For example, in one major suburban police department, the entire
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the communications center
had to be evacuated for an entire shift in order to assess the
damage and structural integrity of the building. There were no
alternative 911 routing plans, no duplicate personnel callout
rosters, and no alternate dispatching site. This serves to
reenforce the concept that immediately after a disaster occurs,
agencies must assess their capabilities and advise personnel
accordingly. It is a good idea at this time to start an agency
log to include notes on the effects of the disaster on police
facilities, operations, and assignments.
At this point, communications personnel become the lifeline
for police operations. They should broadcast that a disaster
has occurred and advise all units to avoid transmitting until a
roll call can be taken. Units must know to stay off the radio
until their identifiers are called. Dispatchers should then
call each unit, in turn, to record all essential information.
Only then do they report their location and status (injury,
vehicle damage, access problems) and give a brief account of the
extent of damage in their areas. This allows on-duty
supervisors and managers to know the status of their resources,
and it begins the critical process of damage assessment.
Damage Assessment
Only through a thorough assessment of the damage incurred
and current police capabilities can managers best assign their
resources. Agencies may choose to instruct units to respond
only to emergency assignments, avoiding activities that may take
them out of service for extended periods of time and prevent
them from responding to more critical dispatches.
Law enforcement personnel may need to practice a skill
similar to triage, which is an emergency medical system of
assigning priorities to treatment of battlefield casualties on
the basis of urgency and chance of survival. During disaster
situations, officers face a variety of problems in a short period
of time. They must make rapid decisions as to which are true
life-safety emergencies, important to the concept of "the
greatest good for the greatest number" of citizens. Officers
and administrators alike require a clear understanding of the
"big picture" of damage and priorities.
During damage assessment, patrol units check their assigned
districts and report the extent of damage to the communications
center. Some agencies assign each beat a list of pre-selected
key sites that should be checked immediately after a disaster
occurs, e.g., hospitals, schools, electrical substations, to name
a few. If