Terrorism Emergency Plan
Instructions:
Scenario: The Federal Bureau of Investigations has indicated that a threat involving weapons of mass destruction has been made against your five story, 500 employee federal building. Although the Federal Bureau of Investigations and law enforcement are doing everything possible to stop this attack, the city council and governor have asked for you, the security manager, to prepare a plan to mitigate, respond, and recover from this potential critical incident. You have private security, local police, fire and emergency medical services, state homeland security, and a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency awaiting your guidance.
Write a 1,750- to 2,100- word emergency management plan explaining how each entity (local police, fire and emergency medical services, state homeland security, private security and a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will be involved. Address the following:
Plan measures to include the establishment of a Unified Command System
Preemptive steps to mitigate a critical incident to include supplies, training, methods of communication, and media control
Response plans
Recovery efforts
Summarize by evaluating the effectiveness of this plan in comparison to existing after-action reports
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Solution
Terrorism Emergency Plan
In cases of emergency, stabilization may involve many different actions which may include: firefighting, administering medical treatment, containing a spill of hazardous chemicals, rescue or handling a threat or act of violence. Depending on the response time and capabilities of public emergency services and the hazards and available resources within one’s reach, a person may prefer to take caution for these incidents. It, therefore, requires one to develop an emergency management plan which begins with a clear understanding of what can happen (Blaikie, et al 2014). Having been provided with local police, fire and emergency medical services, state homeland security, private security and a representative from the federal emergency management agency, strategic plan measures involving the different bodies can be formed considering their capabilities to form a unified command system to stabilize a threat involving weapons of mass destruction. Plan measures should involve the safest actions to be carried out in order to curb the situation without much destruction. Therefore, protective actions for life safety become the first priority and the second priority is to stabilize the incident by organizing the available bodies to carry out these tasks. In this case when developing the plan measures, key elements of the emergency plan should be outlined first. These include all possible emergencies, consequences, written procedures, required actions, and the available resources. It also requires detailed lists of personnel including their telephone numbers, their responsibilities, and duties. It should provide the floor plans and large scale maps indicating evacuation routes and service conduits (such as gas and water lines) to be used by the rescuing team or teams in place. The plan may have some of the following parts including objectives, organization procedures and its execution (Kerzner, 2013).
The objective is just a brief summary of the main agenda of the plan; that is, to reduce human injury and damage to property and the environment. It again specifies a staff member or members who may put the plan into action which outlines the extent of authority this personnel has. Organization part will show how the present teams are organized for example an appointed and trained individual is chosen as the emergency coordinator as well as a backup coordinator. Specific duties and responsibilities are assigned to the available teams, for instance, the fire departments, police departments, telephone, ambulance services and the rest with varying response times. The procedures mainly deal with the execution of the task. These procedures are determined by certain factors like physical layout of the premises, the size of the organization and degree of emergency among others (Peltier, 2016). Even though these hindrances may appear, the following are “musts” to be carried out: identify evacuation routes, specify safe location for staff to gather which is the task for the police department, carry out treatment procedures of the injured and search for the injured simultaneously which is to be carried out by the fire and medical services team. Providing safety to all staff should be dealt first then other situations later. A federal emergency management agency here plays a role in meeting the needs of the affected by determining the amount of funding required. The private security has its role in showing the external teams areas guarded in terms of security cameras and the location of security personnel in order to ease their work as well as access safety rooms in cases of evacuation. The state homeland security having its role for ensuring the safety and security from terrorist attacks in the plan measures has the mandate to evacuate the staff from the building as well as provide technical skills in cases of dangerous weapons in their neutralization. The representative from the federal emergency management agency will provide procedures on how funding will be availed in this threat pre and post attack.
Mitigation, on the other hand, refers to measures that prevent an emergency, reduce the chance of an emergency from happening, or reduce the damaging effects of unavoidable emergencies. Failing to mitigate an emergency in case of a threat involving weapons of mass destruction may cause an uncounted loss in terms of life and property as well as unavoidable health hazards that come along with these attacks. It, therefore, requires the authorities in place to curb the situation and be keen in the execution of their tasks for it not to happen. For instance, the local police in this case will play an important role in regard to response, search and rescue, and recovery efforts. They generally will work as the first responders to help understand of on-scene management and then allow specialized units for continuity operations. By doing this will help reducing chances of the attack happening (Sommer, et al 2017). For the fire and emergency medical services, their presence in this scenario will play an important role such as in case of an explosion, a fire might occur. This requires the fire team to extinguish it to avoid more loss of life and property. The medical team will be involved in providing first aid to the affected staff and also the rescue team just in case something goes wrong. This will help in reducing cases of life loss. Considering the state homeland security which provides funding opportunities for pre- and post-disaster mitigation. This will provide significant opportunity to eliminate or reduce potential losses. The private security will play a critical role in mitigating this threat in various cases. For one they may lock people in safe houses waiting for the evacuation. They may again direct the teams available in the operation in terms of secure places, the form of attack, communication lines available and also the exit routes available in the building. They again will help in directing the staff on the exit routes or emergency exist. This will play a primary role in protecting lives. The federal emergency management agency representative will have his or presence felt in coordinating government-wide relief efforts which bring an orderly and systematic means of federal natural assistance for state and local governments in carrying out their roles to aid citizens. This will help fund the concerned teams in whatever they want or and again the affected families when an attack happens. Keeping all this in place will help in avoiding unplanned deaths in case of lack of resources (Kandangwa, 2016).
Actions taken in the initial points of an emergency are very critical. They play an important role in the execution of other activities, for example, a prompt warning to employees to evacuate, lockdown or shelter can save lots of life. This builds a strong foundation in carrying out response plan. In response to an emergency, a response plan is important to participate teams. This phase of the emergency is very crucial since it involves the real application of activities with a hope of leveling the risk in place to zero if possible. All efforts are directed here. It involves increasing security operators, more investigations into the nature and source of the threat. Here ensuring continuity of critical services, for example, law enforcement and public works. In particular, it all entails putting preparedness plans into action. Having in place, for example, the local police being the first responders their work should be viewed with a revered appreciation. Their response will be similar to the day to day role of public safety and supporting community. Due to their knowledge of the place, it will help in arrears where language is a barrier. They play a role in search, rescue, evacuations, and door to door checks in the operation (Perritt Jr, et al2014). These are critical operations that support the entire operation. Looking at the fire and the emergency medical team, they will have their say in providing first aid to the victims of the attack, have fire curbed down when explosives go off to secure the life of the staff in the building and the external teams involved as well as well as protecting damage of property. Those who need immediate health care in advanced level will also have their life not at stake as the medical officers will play their roles. Since the state homeland police have technical skill in dealing with anti-terrorism activities, in emergency response plan, they will execute the most crucial tasks. They have knowledge and skills to deal with heavy weapons, neutralizing bombs and other explosives and having calculated moves concerning necessary actions and importance of teamwork. Their availability will have procedures executed as close to expectations as possible. The representative from federal emergency management agency will provide the required funding in carrying out tasks. This will provide a consistent chain of operations without fail. The private security which is operational within the entire building will help in directing the evacuating team carry out its tasks since they have much knowledge of the entire building than the rest of the team.
The recovery phase involves actions taken to return a community to normalcy or near-normal conditions, including restoration of basic services and repair of social, economic and physical damages. Recovery differs from the response in its focus. It deals with issues that must be made after immediate needs are addressed. In our case, it will involve rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of other essential infrastructures. It begins immediately after the emergency. Considering the local police, they have a role to play in the recovery phase. They have to administer the whole process to take place in terms of providing security at the scene, take part in carrying out research to write a report of the entire process. The medical team will be available to train the staff on how to treat emergency cases in terms of offering first aids to victims. It will also have a role to play in training the staffs on how to use fire extinguishers as well as to take cover in case a similar situation happens. The state homeland having technical skills in anti-terrorism will help in developing initiatives to mitigate the effects of future incidents. Again they have to set a surveillance to help avoid such cases happening again as well as have a nearby branch in the vicinity. The representative from the federal emergency management agency will identify needs, define resources, as well as address long-term care and treatment of affected persons (McEntire, 2014). The private security, on the other hand, will help in the restoration of security cameras in case they are tempered with, show places that need reinforcement in terms of staff and teach the staff on secure paths to exit in case of an emergency as well as the strategic steps to follow.
The effectiveness of this plan compared to the existing
after-action reports is highly recommended for several reasons. First, all
technical teams required to carry out the tasks are on avail at the same time
which therefore means a common strategic plan to execute the task will work
well for the teams with minimal miscommunication of teams. Secondly, the teams
have already integrated before the execution of the task which will enable them
to use the least time possible with best outcomes compared to the other one
where teams mostly interact in the time of execution. In my opinion, I will
prefer this plan in the execution of security threats.
References
Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I., & Wisner, B. (2014). At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kandangwa, S., & Gurung, S. (2016). Preparing to volunteer in disaster situation: A study of volunteers’ experiences in the April 2015 Nepal Earthquake.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
McEntire, D. A. (2014). Disaster response and recovery: Strategies and tactics for resilience. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Peltier, T. R. (2016). Information security policies, procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. New York, NY: CRC Press.
Perritt Jr, H. H., Sprague, E. O., & Cue, C. L. (2014). Sharing Public Safety Helicopters. J. Air L. & Com., 79, 501.
Sommer, M., Njå, O., & Lussand, K. (2017). Police officers’ learning in relation to emergency management: A case study. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 21, 70-84.