During the conference that was held on March 24 and 25th at the University of Southern Connecticut, Aaron Richman, was the key note speaker on day 2. With an audience of approximately 140 participants, Richman lectured on the Israeli model relating to terror interdiction and response. The lecture included case studies of which Richman took part from Israel, both in a law enforcement and command capacities and addressed the strong dependency of law enforcement on private security in the defense of critical assets against terror attacks.
The conference program provided an interactive learning experience for teams of public and private first responders and was able to:
- Impart a deeper understanding of the problems and challenges presented by critical incident occurring in the most common types of high occupancy facilities
- Provide initial networking and encourage continued dialogue between public and private sector participants from the same community
Conference Objective: To conduct a program of advanced training for law enforcement and private security supervisors focused on the special problems and challenges of responding to and managing a critical incident in certain high occupancy facilities
Conference Background: High occupancy facilities, such as schools, hospitals, malls, arenas and high rise buildings, present special challenges to public safety responders when they are called upon to manage a critical incident occurring in such an environment. Because they offer the potential for mass casualties and real or symbolic disruption of a community or economic activity such facilities are attractive targets for terrorism. Neither basic police training nor generic critical incident training, however, addresses the special problems responders will face when confronted by a major critical incident in such a facility.
High occupancy facilities are likely to have their own security personnel who will be the actual first responders to any major emergency at those sites. Those private security personnel have valuable information, and can play a critical role in shaping the public safety emergency response to a critical incident. The extent of dialogue and cooperation between the public and private first responders may determine the overall success and effectiveness of the incident response. Despite the value of cooperation between the public and private sectors in time of such emergencies, historically there has been only limited interaction between the two sectors and only a limited understanding on the part of each of the resources and capabilities that each side brings to such situations.
Conference Curriculum: The format of the conference included lectures as well as various tabletop exercises. Participants were divided in mixed teams of public and private responders grouped to the fullest extent possible, by their respective communities. The teams cycled through a series of breakout groups and were called upon to manage table top responses to a critical incident scenario set in a complex high occupancy type facility. Each breakout session included a review of the Team’s response to the incident scenario and discussed the unique problems presented to incident response in such a facility. The scenarios utilized in the breakouts were jointly developed by law enforcement personnel and private security representatives from Connecticut Homeland Security Private Security Committee.
Plenary sessions were conducted before and between the breakout groups to reinforce essential concepts of critical incident management and to focus on topics which may transcend various types of large scale, complicated disaster or terrorist incident at a highly occupied facility. Such topics included:
- Initial organization – the first 20 minutes
- The role of the Chief Law Enforcement Executive in a major critical incident
- Managing the massive media response
- Evacuation consideration
- Special investigative issues in cases involving massive numbers of witnesses
- Planning and logistics for a large scale critical incident
The conference program provided an interactive learning experience for teams of public and private first responders and was able to:
- Impart a deeper understanding of the problems and challenges presented by critical incident occurring in the most common types of high occupancy facilities
- Provide initial networking and encourage continued dialogue between public and private sector participants from the same community
Conference Objective: To conduct a program of advanced training for law enforcement and private security supervisors focused on the special problems and challenges of responding to and managing a critical incident in certain high occupancy facilities
Conference Background: High occupancy facilities, such as schools, hospitals, malls, arenas and high rise buildings, present special challenges to public safety responders when they are called upon to manage a critical incident occurring in such an environment. Because they offer the potential for mass casualties and real or symbolic disruption of a community or economic activity such facilities are attractive targets for terrorism. Neither basic police training nor generic critical incident training, however, addresses the special problems responders will face when confronted by a major critical incident in such a facility.
High occupancy facilities are likely to have their own security personnel who will be the actual first responders to any major emergency at those sites. Those private security personnel have valuable information, and can play a critical role in shaping the public safety emergency response to a critical incident. The extent of dialogue and cooperation between the public and private first responders may determine the overall success and effectiveness of the incident response. Despite the value of cooperation between the public and private sectors in time of such emergencies, historically there has been only limited interaction between the two sectors and only a limited understanding on the part of each of the resources and capabilities that each side brings to such situations.
Conference Curriculum: The format of the conference included lectures as well as various tabletop exercises. Participants were divided in mixed teams of public and private responders grouped to the fullest extent possible, by their respective communities. The teams cycled through a series of breakout groups and were called upon to manage table top responses to a critical incident scenario set in a complex high occupancy type facility. Each breakout session included a review of the Team’s response to the incident scenario and discussed the unique problems presented to incident response in such a facility. The scenarios utilized in the breakouts were jointly developed by law enforcement personnel and private security representatives from Connecticut Homeland Security Private Security Committee.
Plenary sessions were conducted before and between the breakout groups to reinforce essential concepts of critical incident management and to focus on topics which may transcend various types of large scale, complicated disaster or terrorist incident at a highly occupied facility. Such topics included:
- Initial organization – the first 20 minutes
- The role of the Chief Law Enforcement Executive in a major critical incident
- Managing the massive media response
- Evacuation consideration
- Special investigative issues in cases involving massive numbers of witnesses
- Planning and logistics for a large scale critical incident
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