Whether it’s a natural disaster, an incident at a major event, or an active shooter or terrorist attack, situations inevitably arise where a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force is required to immediately respond.
The question is, is your city and county ready for the next emergency situation that comes along?
Here are 10 tips to ensure your response team is adequately prepared to meet any challenge they face:
1. Have a Trained Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in Place
One of best things you can do to prepare for large scale emergencies is to have a well-trained and prepared Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in place.
(See how Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members from California, Florida, and Texas explain come together to prepare their communities and assist their neighbors during emergencies. Courtesy of FEMA and YouTube.)
CERT volunteers are members of your community that have undergone the nationally recognized CERT training program that educates them about disaster preparedness, the hazards that might impede them, and trains them in basic disaster response skills like fire safety, team organization, search and rescue, and emergency medical operations.
The benefit of having a well-trained group of CERT volunteers in place, is that they can take on multiple support roles, allowing professional responders to focus on more complex or technical tasks.
2. Create a Common Operating Picture Across Agencies
One of the major pitfalls of an effective emergency response is a lack of inter-agency coordination.
Police, Fire and EMS personnel should ideally all be synced up, and their movements and activities should be guided by an overwatch that knows the locations and dispositions of all assets in a region.
(See how the Fūsus Real-Time Crime Center in the Cloud‘s (RTC3s) video intelligence and map-based awareness interface serves as the central integration point for Law Enforcement agencies’ surveillance, security, and life safety technology for for cities, schools, & businesses. Courtesy of Fūsus and YouTube.)
Creating a common operating picture that geo-locates various assets in the field and enables them to coordinate their response goes a long way towards increasing efficiency.
Especially in search and rescue operations, this is invaluable.
3. Deliver More Information to 911 Operators
911 operators are on the front-lines of incident response, often times taking in multiple calls about a single incident and then relaying that information to units in the field.
By delivering more information to 911 operators, such as incident video streams, audio, and location data from callers or cameras on site, you can increase the accuracy of the information being relayed to them, which will enhance the response of units assigned to the site.
4. Enhance Situational Awareness in the Field
Law enforcement officer, EMS and Fire crew safety is paramount in emergency situations.
Their safety is directly increased by the amount of information they have about the situation they are about to encounter.
Equipping first-responders with detailed location information, video streams from incident sites, and geo-locations of other units improves both public as well as officer safety, and reduces the chance of blue-on-blue incidents in the case of high-risk situations.
5. Streamline First-Responder Communications
In times of crisis, a major success factor for your teams will be open and streamlined communications.
An important component of the aforementioned situational awareness, is giving first-responders within and across various agencies the ability to communicate with each other, as well as back to the central command post.
Enhance these communications with photo and video sharing and secure text messaging.
(Take an inside look as First responders in Kansas launch a 3-month trial of RapidDeploy to test interoperability across the state. Hear what they have to say about how this app can help first responders in the future. Courtesy of FirstNet, Built with AT&T and YouTube.)
Also, ensure that communications systems are based on a stable and secure first-responder specific network like AT&T FirstNet, to ensure that channels remain open even if civilian communications networks go down or are overloaded.
6. Ensure Your Technology Systems Are Up-To-Date
Many of the steps mentioned thus far are aided by new technologies.
An important step to ensuring safety and efficiency during emergency response, is taking inventory of the technology solutions that support your people.
A lot of departments nationwide are still reliant on outmoded and expensive technology solutions that don’t talk to each other- fragmentation is the enemy of efficiency.
Instead, make sure your ERT and CERT personnel have access to the latest apps and tools, and that your command center and community members in general are using technologies on a common platform.
7. Create a Social Media Plan
Social media is now often a go-to tool for public alerts and rescue and response.
Whether it’s a hurricane, an earthquake, or public unrest, government and public safety officials should be prepared to utilize social media channels to communicate vital information to the public in times of crisis.
By developing a social media communications strategy ahead of time, and planning ahead for a variety of situations, you’ll be more effective at disseminating the right information when the time comes.
Further, the general public, businesses and communities are now increasingly reliant on social media for both collecting information on unfolding situations, as well as contacting authorities during the disaster response and subsequent recovery process.
8. Educate Citizens on Emergency Procedures
Social media and community forums are a great way to prepare your citizenry for potential crisis situations before they happen.
Getting the community involved in crisis planning is of the utmost importance, as it saves time and lives once an incident or disaster is in progress and confusion sets in.
Instead, community leaders should be identified in advance, and primed to disseminate relevant information to their communities.
Police and public safety outreach to the communities they serve will also help build familiarity and trust.
9. Encourage Local Business Participation in Emergency Preparedness Programs
Local businesses are often the key to creating a more cohesive community. That cohesion will serve your community well in times of crises.
Beyond building relationships with local business owners, public safety officials should also attempt to enroll them in public-private partnerships that include crisis training, CERT volunteering, security camera registration and sharing, and various other initiatives that help members of the community partner with first-responders to help themselves.
10. Ensure Planning Includes the Most Vulnerable Members of Your Community
Finally, when formulating an emergency response plan, don’t forget to include the most vulnerable members of your community- senior citizens, residents with special needs, children, and animals.
Identify locations like schools, day care centers, assisted living facilities, hospitals, health care facilities, veterinary clinics, and other locations where the residents may need extra assistance.
Creating a comprehensive plan that includes the leadership and staff at these facilities will save time and lives in the event of a rapid evacuation.
Fūsus breaks down silos, merging public and private video resources into a single, efficient and unified stream of information. Its lightweight SaaS platform is easy and fast to set up, leveraging virtual networking technology that has never been deployed before.
The Fūsus system requires little to no hardware investment, and can speak to existing video assets, making a sophisticated video platform affordable to any city or organization.
Fusus lives at the intersection of public and private video and IoT, building bridges within communities, and making Smart Cities Smarter.
For more information about Fusus, please visit www.fusus.com, www.fusus.com/rtc3-products/fusus-real-time-crime-center-in-the-cloud, or to schedule a demo, contact the company here.
or to schedule a demo, please contact the company here.
Fūsus Returns to Compete in 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program
American Security Today’s ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards program is today in its Sixth Year and continues to recognize the Outstanding Innovations of top firms and agencies in the Homeland Security and Public Safety fields.
The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program highlighting the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.
American Security Today is pleased to announce TSA Administrator David Pekoske, will join the organization as a featured speaker at the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Presentation Luncheon, on November 18, 2021 at ISC East in New York City.
“On the heels of an unprecedented global pandemic, continued unrest in our cities and potentially catastrophic cyberattacks on our nations critical infrastructure, the focus of the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon will be on the latest, state-of-the-art innovations that are driving investments in new public security and safety technologies and systems,” said AST Editorial and Managing Director Tammy Waitt.
“As a recognized expert in crisis management, strategic planning, innovation and aviation, surface transportation and maritime security, David Pekoske’s message highlighting his top priorities and challenges for the TSA based on his years of wide-ranging experience will be critical to our attendees internalizing the critical nature of these escalating challenges, and realizing innovative new approaches to meet them.”
The 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is Proudly Sponsored by AMAROK, Fortior Solutions and SIMS Software, along with Returning Premier Sponsors ATI Systems, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, and Reed Exhibitions.
Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.
Comprehensive List of Categories Include:
| Access Control/ Identification | Personal/Protective Equipment | Law Enforcement Counter Terrorism |
| Perimeter Barrier/ Deterrent System | Interagency Interdiction Operation | Cloud Computing/Storage Solution |
| Facial/IRIS Recognition | Body Worn Video Product | Cyber Security |
| Video Surveillance/VMS | Mobile Technology | Anti-Malware |
| Audio Analytics | Disaster Preparedness | ID Management |
| Thermal/Infrared Camera | Mass Notification System | Fire & Safety |
| Metal/Weapon Detection | Rescue Operations | Critical Infrastructure |
| License Plate Recognition | Detection Products | And Many Others! |
| COVID Innovations | And Many Others! |
Don’t see a Direct Hit for your Product, Agency or Organization?
With the unprecedented occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of the safety and security industries has realized the need to increase innovations to address the daily growing challenges.
As such AST aims to make sure these firms and professionals are reflected in the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program, so we’d like to encourage you to submit appropriate categories recommendations and include COVID-19 Frontline Professionals in your Nominations to see that these Professionals, Facilities, and Vendors receive the Recognition they Deserve!
Submit your category recommendation for consideration to Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at: mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.
Register for the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Luncheon Today
At ISC East 2021 you with the opportunity to interact with a broad array of security industry professionals.
ISC East works closely with other businesses in the security and public safety space to help bring together the Northeast’s largest security trade show each year.
In collaboration with premier sponsor SIA (Security Industry Association) and in partnership with ASIS NYC, ISC East is proud to work with and be supported by various associations, trade publications, charities, and more.
Therefore, the ISC audience of security dealers, installers, integrators, consultants, corporate, government and law enforcement/first responder practitioners will be joined by the ASIS NYC audience of major corporate managerial-through-director-level national and global security executives.
The combination of one-on-one conversations with the industry’s top innovators, integrators and security executives, special events, high-quality education and training, and strong support from industry associations, will allow attendees to learn and evaluate solutions from leading security exhibitors and brands.
Your ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon registration includes complimentary attendee access to ISC East – Thank take advantage of this exclusive luncheon opportunity to take a break from the show – Invite your team, guests, clients and show visitors to a lovely and affordable plated meal event in the heart of New York City, for a fabulous networking opportunity!
Go to https://americansecuritytoday.com/product/awards-luncheon/ to secure your seat or reserve a table.
***Limited space available so Register Today. There will be no on-site registrations.
Why American Security Today?
The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.
The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.
American Security Today is uniquely focused on the broader Homeland Security & Public Safety marketplace with over 75,000 readers at the Federal, State and local levels of government as well as firms allied to government.
American Security Today brings forward a fresh compelling look and read with our customized digital publications that hold readers eyes throughout the story with cutting edge editorial that provides solutions to their challenges.
Harness the Power of the Web – with our 100% Mobile Friendly Publications
The AST Digital Publications is distributed to over 75,000 qualified government and homeland security professionals in federal, state and local levels.
‘PROTECTING OUR NATION, ONE CITY AT A TIME’
AST Reaches both Private & Public Experts, essential to meeting these new challenges.
Today’s new generation of public safety and security experts need real-time knowledge to deal with domestic and international terrorism, lone wolf attacks, unprecedented urban violence, shifts in society, culture and media bias – making it increasingly difficult for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Military and Private Security Professionals to implement coordinated security measures to ensure national security and improve public safety.
These experts are from Government at the federal, state and local level as well as from private firms allied to government.
AST provides a full plate of topics in our AST Monthly Magazine Editions, AST Website and AST Daily News Alerts, covering 23 Vital Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities, and Emergency Response among others.
AST has Expanded readership into integral Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other potential targets of terrorism.
Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – all enticing targets due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.
To learn more about the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners solutions, Check Out the New 2020 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS Edition Fully Interactive Magazine – the Best Products of 2020 ‘A Year in Review’.
The Annual CHAMPIONS edition includes a review of the ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning products and programs, highlighting key details on many of the winning firms products and services, includes video interviews and more.
It is your Go-To source throughout the year for ‘The Best of 2020 Products and Services‘ endorsed by American Security Today, and can satisfy your agency’s and organization’s most pressing Homeland Security and Public Safety needs.
From Physical Security (Access Control, Critical Infrastructure, Perimeter Protection and Video Surveillance Cameras and Video Management Systems), to IT Security (Cybersecurity, Encryption, Data Storage, Anti-Malware and Networking Security – Just to name a few), the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS EDITION has what you need to Detect, Delay, Respond to, and Mitigate today’s real-time threats in our constantly evolving security landscape.
It also includes featured guest editorial pieces from some of the security industry’s most respected leaders, and recognized firms in the 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.
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For a complete list of 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners, click here.
For more information on All Things American Security Today, and the 2021 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program, please contact Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.
AST strives to meet a 3 STAR trustworthiness rating, based on the following criteria:
- Provides named sources
- Reported by more than one notable outlet
- Includes supporting video, direct statements, or photos
Subscribe to the AST Daily News Alert Here.
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Fūsus Real-Time Crime Center in the Cloud Nominated in 2021 ‘ASTORS’
