rural preparedness quarterly · or grant funding for a new 40-foot commer- ... how business...

Need a new vehicle or an upgrade to support operations, but lack the budget

or grant funding for a new 40-foot commer-cial cab? Don’t distress. You may have options.

A recently published guide by the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate explores choices available to public safety agencies looking to purchase or upgrade their mobile command vehicles.

Fortunately, communications equipment and hardware for supporting information technology are becoming more compact and mobile, allowing agencies to more efficiently leverage space. As such, capabilities may be realized today with smaller vehicle plat-forms, such as sport utility vehicles, walk-in vans, and small box vans, which were only feasible years ago with heavy-duty platforms. While million-dollar platforms are still plentiful and may be required for supporting a range of on-scene command and control responsibilities, smaller vehicles at a quarter

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Building Resilient Communitiespage 4

MGT 401 Planning and Inter-vention for Gangs, Hate, and Terrorist Groups in Rural Jails and Prisons page 5

RDPC New Courses pagee 8

XII 2012

Rural Preparedness QuarterlyTraining and Information for America’s Rural Communities

InsideSelecting a Vehicle to Support Mobile Operations

2 RDPC www.ruraltraining.org

>> Continued from page 1

On The Move

of the cost may be adequate for many agencies.

The Mobile Command Vehicles Selection Guide aims to assist agencies in the early stages of determining operational needs and comparing vehicle platforms and options. Worksheets in the guide seek to help agen-cies distinguish “needs” from “wants” for use when justifying requirements for grant applications and community leaders. In fact, agencies often procure too much capability that is not only costly, but often misunder-stood, underused, and not well maintained. Conversely, vehicles may be under-equipped for budgetary or other reasons, which may severely hinder an agency’s ability to get to an incident scene quickly and to operate for an extended period of time.

The guide makes use of operational scenarios, helping agencies identify needs and requirements early in the procurement process. For example, agencies commonly operating in mountainous terrain and off paved roads may prefer a light-duty, self-propelled vehicle. While communities needing a vehicle for infrequent

use may opt for a towed platform; large agencies planning for a broad range of activ-ities may require a heavy-duty platform.

The primary differences between platform types include whether the vehicle is self-propelled or towable, the length of the unit, optional slide outs, and the interior

configuration of functional work areas. The capability to

support

incident command functions with interior- or exterior-configured space is the primary variable separating mobile command vehicles from vehicles that purely support communications. However, the communica-tions/dispatch area is the most commonly found functional area inside mobile command vehicles.

Individual dispatch or communica-tions stations commonly include land

mobile radios, gateway systems for bridging disparate radio

frequencies

www.ruraltraining.org RDPC 3

and equipment, computer-aided dispatch stations, and telecommunications equip-ment for internal and external communi-cations. For small communities, mobile command vehicles often support dispatch operations when fixed facilities are damaged or degraded or when a temporary capability during transition to alternate locations is necessary. Mobile command

vehicles may also be valuable for support-ing communications at remote locations lacking communications infrastructure. In these cases, vehicles may be equipped with a cellular or satellite system for supporting communications.

The guide also contains a listing of more than 40 vendors who manufacture, inte-grate, and/or distribute mobile command

vehicles. In addition, experienced vehicle operators have provided lessons learned to assist peers in designing upgrades or new vehicles. These lessons are provided on a range of topics such as:

• Theconfigurationofantennasonthe exterior of vehicles to minimize interference and audio feedback;

• Theuseofpanelsontheexteriorofthevehicles to support future upgrades and the temporary feeding of cables at an incident scene;

• Theconfigurationoffunctionalareasfor supporting dispatch;

• Strategiesforminimizingnoiseintheinterior of the vehicle;

• Benefitsassociatedwiththeuseofvarious types of communications equipment such as cellular and IP telephony systems; and

• Theuseofdifferenttypesofmastsandthe positioning of surveillance cameras and video equipment.

The initial procurement of a vehicle may be a significant investment for an agency, and budgets may severely limit options. Upgrading an existing vehicle and purchas-ing a used vehicle are alternatives that may be more affordable than purchasing a new vehicle.Basedonthecurrentmileageofanexisting or used vehicle, there may be high initial maintenance costs and longevity may be significantly less than a new vehicle. Although a conversion or retrofitting may not lead to an ideal solution, it may be the most affordable and feasible option given budgetary constraints.

Read more about mobile command vehicles and selection considerations by accessing the guide on the SAVER Program section of the Responder Knowledge Base(RKB)website:https://www.rkb.us/saver (keyword search: mobile command vehicles). The SAVER Program conducts objective assessments and validations on commercial equipment and systems, and provides those results along with other relevant equipment information to the emergency response community in an operationally useful form. SAVER provides information on equipment that falls within the categories listed in the DHS Authorized Equipment List (AEL).

Spotlight on Communications EquipmentThe SAVER Program offers market and assessment information on various types of communications equipment on the AEL to assist public safety communications depart-ments in making future purchases. The following provides example equipment types and reports available on the SAVER section of the RKB website (https://www.rkb.us/saver):

• Bridging/Patching/GatewayEquipment

• GeospatialInformationSystems

• HandheldSatellitePhones

• MobileCommandSystemsandMobileCommunicationsCenters

• PortableCommunicationsRepeaters

• PositionLocatingSystems

• PropagationModelingSoftware

• PublicAlertandWarningSystems

• TransportableSatelliteTerminalsforBroadbandServicesContinued on page 4 >>


When a threat or crisis occurs, rural areas, which are often outside the

main line of supplies and assistance, are overlooked. Arrangements between the public and private sectors make all the difference between success and failure in the event of a disaster.

Bentonville,Arkansasishometotheheadquarters of global retail giant Walmart. It is also the location of NorthWest Arkan-sas Community College (NWACC), a member of the Rural Domestic Prepared-ness Consortium (RDPC) and subject matter experts on cooperative partnerships between public safety and private sector.

InNovember2011,Bentonvilleplayedhost to the Fostering Cooperation with Local, State, Regional and Federal Public/Private Sector Initiatives conference. The national forum focused on public/private sector collaboration and included 150 attendees from 21 states. Private sector participants included Walmart, Macy’s, National Headquarters of the American

Red Cross, FedEx Corporation, Target, Verizon Wireless, Goldman Sachs & Co, Walgreens,andJ.B.HuntTransport,aswellas the National Weather Service and several private sector security consultants. The conference was held on NWACC’s campus and hosted many private sector companies, as well as members of the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department for Homeland Security (DHS). The event was sponsored jointly by NWACC, Walmart, and ASIS International.

Some of the topics discussed were: “Public/Private Sector Partnerships at the LocalLevel,”“SmallBusinessResiliency,”and“TheVirtualBEOC.”Currently,morethan twenty-seven states are pursuing the developmentofaBEOC,withapproximate-ly seven acknowledging having an operating BEOC.

Oneofthemaingoalsoftheconferencewas to promote an environment where BEOCsandotherprivate/publicsectorinitiatives can learn from each other and

focus on a common operating picture. “The private sector, from Fortune 500 companies to your local grocery store, is an essential member of the team,” said Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator. “The faster we can help stores and businesses get back on their feet after a disaster, the more effective the rest of the team can be in focusing our resources on helping disaster survivors in areas that don’t yet have access to those goods and services. Growing strong working relationships between emergency managers and the private sector is a good business decision for everyone -- it helps us better serve survivors, rebuild our communities and boost local economies.”

Melodie Marcks, Director of the Institute for Corporate and Public Safety at NWACC, said, “Having major businesses take part in this event helps to promote our main message, which is that rural communities benefit from partnering with private sector companies that, because of their supply chain expertise, are able to assist with providing needed supplies quickly follow-ing a catastrophe.”

In Joplin, Missouri, cooperative measures were tested and proved to be instrumental in assisting that community with recovering from the May 2011 tornado. Food, water, and other supplies were distrib-uted to the community through agreements such as the ones supported by Walmart. The success was “a direct result of pre-estab-lished relationships locally, regionally, and statewide,” said Keith Stammer, Director of Emergency Management in Jasper County, Missouri.

The forum was intended to begin to find solutions to the issues faced by all stakehold-ers within the community of emergency management. At the close of the event a working group was established to promote actionable solutions to disaster prepared-ness, response and recovery roadblocks.

Building Resilient CommunitiesHow Business Emergency Operations Centers (BEOC) Can Foster Cooperative Relationships Between the Public and Private Sectors


The environment inside rural jails and prisons is a volatile one, complete with

violence, street gang and threat group recruit-ment, and the proliferation of anti-social behavior. Corrections officials must identify and address threats to their facilities, the surrounding communities, and the nation, and they must have policies in place and adequate personnel training in order to do so.

The RDPC has a new course, MGT 401 Planning and Intervention for Gangs, Hate, and Terrorist Groups in Rural Jails and Prisons, which is now available to rural jurisdictions who deal with information gathering and sharing on a regular basis. This course is intended to help corrections personnel build those capacities in order to improve processes for managing actionable information and to better identify growing threats in their facilities.

“The course answers the need for county and state corrections facilities to increase communication and collaboration with State

Fusion Centers and the many federal intel-ligence organizations,” said M. Chris Herring, Executive Director of North Carolina Central

University’s Institute for Homeland Security and Workforce development, an academic partner of the RDPC. “The course empowers action for guiding county and state person-nel in the development of the policies and protocols that strengthen their organizational structure. This allows for credible informa-tion and intelligence to be shared from the‘grassroots’CorrectionalOfficertothenationallevelIntelligenceOfficer.”

This is an 8-hour course designed to assist rural corrections managers and officers develop suspicious activity reporting (SAR) procedures for gathering informa-tion regarding threat group recruitment and radicalization and develop policies for sharing that information in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security’s Nationwide Information Sharing Initiative. Course material focuses on small and rural communities and the unique organizational, social, and financial challenges faced by their corrections facilities.

MGT 401 Planning and Intervention for Gangs, Hate, and Terrorist Groups in Rural Jails and Prisons

RDPC

Joy Bullock, Somerset, KY

In each newsletter, the Rural Domestic Prepared-ness Consortium (RDPC) highlights how first responders across the nation have benefited from the free training provided by this unique program.

JoyBullock,CorporateCommunicationsCoordinator with South Kentucky Rural

Electric Cooperative Corporation, recently completed AWR 209: Dealing with the Media, A Short Course for Rural Respond-ers, in Somerset, Ky.

“The RDPC media awareness course that several of us from South Kentucky RECC took at The Center for Rural Development was fantastic! The instructor was knowl-edgeable and presented in a way that made the information very memorable and usable. It was wonderful for us to have this type of training available and so close to home. We don’t have the budgets to allow a great deal of travel, and we don’t have the time to be gone, so it was great to be able to get this high quality training right here!”

“I would highly recommend RDPC classes to everyone. As a rural electric cooperative/provider, it is very important that we be ready and able to handle all types of events when working so closely with responders. It is always better to be

prepared, and I can’t think of a better way than by attending RDPC classes.”

Each course provided by RDPC is tuition free and aims to help participants prepare for unique challenges they may face as emer-gency responders. For more information about the RDPC, please visit our website http://www.ruraltraining.org/.


Training America’s rural responders

Register On-Line!RDPC prepares you for the unique situations facing communities in rural America. We train responders using the latest U.S. Department of Homeland Security-approved curriculum. Log on to our website today for training schedules, registration and more information.

www.ruraltraining.org

TELL US YOUR STORY!Do you have a story about your rural community? Whether you want to share an experience, best practice, or just let us know what life is like for a rural first responder, we’d love to hear it. Your story may be featured in an upcoming newsletter, or we could even show up

on your doorstep with camera in hand to feature the story on the RDPC’s Rural Responder Network. To submit your story idea, contact ??????? at ?????@???.???. To view other videos, visit ruraltraining.org/rural-responder-network.

Prepare For The Worst, Train To Be The Best

FREE TRAINING


Prepare For The Worst, Train To Be The Best

AWR 148 Crisis Management for School-Based Incidents – Partnering Rural Law Enforcement and the Local School Systems

Tuition-free for Qualifying Rural JurisdictionsFor more information or to schedule training contact RDPC at:877-855-RDPC (7372) • [email protected] • www.ruraltraining.org

Schools in small, rural, and remote areas across the country account for almost 23% of the total student population (more than 11 million students). It is imperative that all potentially affected parties collaborate on planning, responding, and recovering from a school-based incident.

This eight-hour course is designed to educate rural law enforcement personnel as well as school administrators and staff on the elements that would allow for an effective response to school-based emergencies.

FREE TRAINING


The RDPC continues to add to its course library, focusing on the needs of rural

communities throughout the Unites States. Ourslateofnewcoursescoverstopicsessential to many rural communities. Each course is designed specifically with the rural community in mind, focusing not on what resources need to be obtained, but instead on the resources that are available in a given moment.

AWR 225 CBRNE Response for Rural First Responders

This 8-hour, awareness-level course provides rural first responders with an introduction to various types of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explo-sive(CBRNE)materialsandagents.Thecourse is designed to give the first responder the ability to safely assess the scene, determinewhetheritrequiresaCBRNEresponse, and recognize when a situation requires a defensive response (isolate and deny entry) until operations-level personnel arrive on the scene. This course imparts a basic understanding of dangers involved in CBRNEincidents;instructionintheuseoffield guides; the steps involved in safe scene assessment;andthecomponentsofCBRNEoperations. In addition, this course provides participants with an overview of the Incident Command System and information pertaining to additional support resources from local, state, and federal agencies. Activities presented in this course afford

participants with opportunities to apply critical thinking and decision-making skills. Filmed scenarios presented at the end of this course require participants to combine instruction from the entire course and put it into practice.

MGT 383 Emergency Operations Plans for Rural Jurisdictions

This 8-hour, planning-and-management-level course is designed to provide rural first responders with the knowledge and skills to develop an emergency operations plan (EOP)fortheirlocaljurisdictionorregion.Participants are provided with knowledge on the planning process, the different types of emergency operations plan formats, and the components of each. Participants engage in scenarios that are designed to reinforce the lessons learned, enable them to deter-mine the best format for their particular jurisdiction, and to organize the various planningcomponentsintoanEOP.

PER 294 Testing an Emergency Operations Plan in a Rural EOC

This 8-hour, performance-level course has been designed with a proactive approach to testing rural communities’ emergency operationsplans(EOPs)inanemergencyoperationscenter(EOC)environment.Inthe process, the course provides relevant and valuabletrainingtoelectedofficials,EOCpersonnel, and rural community leaders representing both public and private sector

entities. Throughout the training session, participants are provided with opportunities to exchange perceptions and best practices while interacting with participants from responder organizations, public and private sectors organizations, as well as with other EOCpersonnelworkingatregionalandstate levels. The emphasis of this course is a performance-oriented exercise which allows course participants to replicate the rolesofvariousEOCpersonnelinanefforttotesttheircommunity’sEOP.Intheeventthat the community receiving the training doesnothaveawrittenEOP,participantswillbeprovidedwithamodelEOPwrittenfor a rural county in the fictitious state of Columbia.

PER 296 CBRNE Rural Response Threat Protocol

This 8-hour, performance- level course is designed to provide responders with basicknowledgeshouldaCBRNEincidentimpact the rural communities they serve. TheCBRNERuralResponseThreatProtocolserves as a template to provide responders and volunteer emergency manager/plan-ners from rural/small communities with information to assist in the development of an Emergency Response Plan (ERP). Since CBRNEincidentsmaypresenthazardsatypical to rural responder experiences, this training offers examples of strategies that could be implemented to enhance responder and public safety.

RDPC Announces New Courses

RDPC Academic Partners

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