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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 an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is established,
these reports should be routed there for collation with reports
from other departments and agencies.
Informing the Public
Keeping citizens informed is not just a convenience, but a
necessity. Often, when citizens are unaware of a situation,
they contact the police department to determine what has
happened. To accommodate such calls, police departments can
respond in one of two ways. First, agencies can designate a
public information officer who works closely with the local news
media to disseminate accurate information on the extent of the
damage and the action citizens should take. Or, consideration
might be given to a recorded information tape. This diverts
callers from emergency telephone lines to a source of recorded
information that gives the status of the situation and what
actions are appropriate.
Dispatching Personnel and Equipment
Following any disaster, personnel mobilization occurs as
necessary. This involves either a general re-call of all
off-duty personnel or only those in selected assignments. With
a general re-call policy, all off-duty employees report for duty
when they become aware of a potential disaster situation or one
that has already occurred. Many departments institute this
policy since it is easier to send excess staff home than to try
to call them to report for duty. Another option is to have an
organized system whereby adjacent local police departments or
the State police force provide personnel and equipment to assist
those in the stricken area. Above all, it is critical that a
rapid coordinated response follows an emergency.
Equipment mobilization must also accompany an increase in
on-duty personnel. This includes vehicles for added staff,
redistribution of communications equipment, and issuance of
emergency supplies, such as batteries and flares. Sleeping
accommodations and other special arrangements, such as meals and
showers, may also be necessary with extended shift assignments.
Light Rescue and Evacuation
After the October 1989, California earthquake, many Bay Area
police agencies started to carry specialized equipment in their
vehicles. Pry bars for lifting debris, wrenches for turning off
natural gas meters, and better-equipped first aid kits are now
standard items in patrol vehicles. Clearly, law enforcement
personnel do not need to be trained in large-scale rescue
efforts, but they should know how to perform light rescue
operations and the capabilities of local fire agencies, search
and rescue teams, and available military units.
Law enforcement personnel may also be responsible for
coordinating evacuations. A review of actual cases indicates
that when there have been difficulties handling evacuations, the
problems can be traced to several deficiencies in emergency
assistance plans. These include failing to adequately warn
citizens of the dangers and the reason for evacuation,
difficulties in communicating information in other languages,
failing to recommend proper routing for evacuations, and failure
to prepare a site to house and feed those evacuated. In some
areas, evacuees may even need transportation, and prior
arrangements should be made with the local school or transit
systems, as necessary.
Security
Alternatives exist so that security in the stricken area can
be maintained with minimal personnel commitments. In areas
suffering from weather or earthquake damage, erecting chain-link
fencing around the perimeters of the damaged areas is an option.
In some communities, contract private security companies monitor
access to areas after the initial danger is over. Some
jurisdictions enact special laws or ordinances as part of a
declaration of a local emergency, including curfew restrictions,
travel and access prohibitions, or special business regulations.
Special Law Enforcement Operations
Sometimes, local law enforcement officers have medical
examiner/coroner responsibilities. Reviews conducted of past
emergency situations indicate a need for such an operation to
augment local capabilities in this specialized activity.
Agreements with funeral homes, military units, or State health
organizations are usually necessary.
In many instances after the initial disaster, law
enforcement personnel assist with official visitors, such as
State legislators, ranking Federal Government officials, and
perhaps even the President of the United States, who come to
survey the stricken areas. Such visits require coordination
with local law enforcement so that access, transportation,
re-routing, and security arrangements can be integrated. These
activities may require additional staffing. Therefore, mutual
aid assistance agreements with other agencies might be necessary
to provide adequate security or to handle the necessary
arrangements for dignitary visits.
Another concern during the extended disaster period is the
potential for fraud. Accounts of bogus contractors approaching
disaster victims to inspect homes and businesses are not
uncommon. In many cases, phony repairmen take advance payments
for work never performed. Law enforcement can stop such fraud
by disseminating warnings through local shelters and public
service announcements, as well as by thoroughly investigating
fraud cases brought to their attention.
As personnel begin to return to more routine operations,
consideration should be given to a critical incident stress
debriefing program. Either individual or group sessions with
specially trained professionals can help law enforcement
personnel cope with the death and destruction that they
witnessed. Although some officers initially resist participating
in such discussions, most eventually derive great benefit from
the opportunity.
PLANNING
Given an understanding of the issues related to disaster
response, how does an agency adequately plan for such
operations? First, it is important that the law enforcement
disaster plan be consistent with, or complement, existing city,
county, and State disaster planning documents in force. The
best approach involves assessing various disaster scenarios that
could lead to special law enforcement operations. Next,
agencies should conduct a capability assessment to determine the
facilities, personnel, equipment, and training available to
handle the hazards identified.
Many agencies find that action checklists provide the best
format to use for disaster plans. Such checklists allow
personnel with little training to begin functioning effectively
under emergency conditions, even if it is their "first look"
at the plan.
Another accepted means of command and control during the
emergency period is an incident command system. This system,
which was originally developed for fire services, includes such
components as a consistent organization chart, common
terminology, effective span of control, and efficient operations
planning formats.
However, even before a disaster occurs, agencies should
consider common upgrades to facilities and equipment, such as
emergency generator capabilities and stocking adequate reserves
of radio and car batteries, road flares, portable stop signs, and
flashlights and batteries. Consideration should also be given to
keeping vehicle gas tanks filled, stocking spare tires, and
making provisions for hand cranking gasoline in the event of a
power failure.
COST RECOVERY
When and if a disaster affects a law enforcement agency,
documentation becomes critical. The State and Federal
Government repay most of the costs incurred in response to an
emergency if adequate documentation exists to support such a
claim. Therefore, agencies should keep detailed records to
include personnel shifts, assignments, and hours. Logs for
vehicle use and repairs and copies of receipts for any emergency
purchases or equipment procurement will also be necessary. Logs
prepared since the beginning of an emergency situation prove
their value in the end.
CONCLUSION
When a disaster occurs, law enforcement operations do, in
fact, change. Effective law enforcement administrators begin
well ahead of the emergency to prepare their agencies to face
demands. Assessment and planning are the best defenses against
problems related to disaster response. It is in the public's
best interest to make these preparations a constant priority.
They should be accepted as part of the overall public safety
challenge that each administrator must face.