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.  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