CIP Update

August 24, 2007

This newsletter is for public agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders involved or interested in public-private partnerships for joint emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Training & Education Division, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This newsletter provides ideas, suggestions, best practices, and lessons learned to establish critical incident protocols using public-private partnerships.

Through the CIP Program, Michigan State University facilitates public-private partnerships for cities, counties, and regions across the nation.  The CIP Program is free.

Please visit our website at www.cip.msu.edu for more information about the program.

Participating Communities in the CIP Program
The CIP Program has been initiated in 33 communities in 20 states with over 2,300 participants collaborating on public-private partnerships for joint management of critical incidents. We are looking to work with other cities, counties and regions. Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in developing a public-private partnership? If so, please let us know.

Currently, we are working with the following communities:
Allentown, PA / Annapolis, MD / Bethlehem, PA / Brooklyn, OH / Brown County, WI / Buncombe County, NC / Carroll County, MD / Casa Grande, AZ / Clark County, NV / Dallas, TX / Dane County, WI / Douglas County, KS / Evansville, IN / GCCC-St. Louis, MO / Greensboro, NC / Hoover, AL / Lake-Cook Corridor, IL / Layton, UT / Lewis & Clark County, MT / Libertyville, IL / Littleton, CO / Marquette County, MI / Milwaukee, WI / Monroe County, MI / Northampton County, PA / Norwalk, CT / Oakland County, MI / Perkiomen Valley, PA / Redmond, WA / Racine, WI / Richmond, VA / Rockville, MD / Sandy City, UT

Our Mistake!
In the August 3, 2007, CIP Update newsletter we profiled the ChicagoFIRST organization that provides leadership for the financial industry.  This dynamic organization continues to expand across the nation through its commitment to partnership building.  Unfortunately, we provided the wrong website address.  The correct one is www.chicagofirst.org. 

Our apologies for the earlier misprint.

CIP Program Activities
August 30, 2007 - Madison, WI   (Initiate CIP for Dane County, Wisconsin)
October 3, 2007 - Mountain View, CA   (Initiate CIP for Mountain View, California)
October 10, 2007 - Richmond, VA   (Facilitate Tabletop Exercise)
October 18, 2007 - Layton, UT   (Facilitate Tabletop Exercise)
October 19, 2007 - Denver, CO  (Presentation at Critical Infrastructure Protection Conference)
November 14, 2007 - Carterville, IL  (Presentation at the Southern Illinois Occupational Safety & Health Conference)

Online Disaster Planning Tool
The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners developed a free user-friendly online template to help non-profit organizations with their disaster planning.  Additionally, there is a demo option for anyone who would like to try it out.  The template includes institutional information, team members, assessing risks, preventative maintenance, information technology, salvage, evacuation, command center, supplies, staff and volunteers, team training, plan review, and program updating.  Qualified institutions who utilize the template are issued a password that allows them to access their disaster plan, which is on a secured server maintained by NEDCC.  Additionally, NEDCC will send an email every six months to participating organizations reminding them to update the plan.

Some of the communities we work with are interested in developing a similar model, to include a database for identifying and maintaining resources to be used for crisis management.  Take a look at the NEDCC online disaster planning tool.

To learn about the Northeast Document Conservation Center, please visit www.nedcc.org and to see the disaster planning template, go to http://www.nedcc.org/about/news.dplan.php.

IPC International Security SmartBrief
An online newsletter resource that provides information on security is published by IPC International Corporation, which is an international provider of investigative and protection security services for the shopping mall industry.  In the last issue of the IPC SmartBrief are topics on the industry, risk management, best practices, technology and trends, and policy and governmental affairs.

In the IPC SmartBrief August 23, 2007 newsletter are a variety of topics, including information on planning processes and procedures for a workplace violence program.  The source for the workplace violence program is the University of California’s Human Resource Department.  To view the workplace violence program, go to http://www.hr.ucdavis.edu/Elr/Er/Violence/Brochure.

If you would like the sign up for this free newsletter, go to http://www.smartbrief.com/ipc/index.jsp.

A Public-Private Partnership Model
In 2000, Michigan State University published the Critical Incident Protocol – A Public and Private Partnership.  This 42-page how to guide is available for free on the CIP-Community Facilitation website, which is at www.cip.msu.edu.  Agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations that are looking for information on how to create consensus building within a community for joint crisis management should read this excellent resource.

Some of the processes for creating a public-private partnership include;

• Establish partnerships in advance so that events can be managed with minimal loss to the community.
• Conduct joint risk assessments of businesses with the public agency partner and identify what business functions are critical to the business and the community.
• Develop joint emergency preparedness plans.
• Determine how community resources can be identified and shared for response to disasters.
• Collaborate on facilitating business resumption and recovery processes.
• Develop joint training exercises.
• Incorporate mitigation throughout the entire process (Jones, 2000).

For additional information on partnerships, take a few minutes to read this publication.

Port Security Through a Public-Private Partnership
There are many different types of public-private partnerships, but only a few of them focus on crisis management.  The state of Texas, in conjunction with Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority, and others in the public and private sector in the Houston area created one.  Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law the creation of the Houston Ship Channel Security District which is empowered to enhance and maintain the ship channel’s security infrastructure.  Harris County will be overseeing this collaborative effort.

The predecessor to this newly authorized partnership was the Port Strategic Security Council, which was formed three years ago in response to a presentation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on available grants for enhancing port security.  Eventually, the Security Council evolved into its present state, which is designated as the Houston Ship Channel Security District (MarineLink.Com, 2007).

Ports are an essential link within the transport chain, linking up maritime areas with land and passenger flows. They are often the focal point for trans-shipments of dangerous cargo.  To learn more about partnerships for port security, you can contact the Harris County Commissioners Court at comm.ct.agenda@co.harris.tx.us.

Statement by Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Assistant Secretary, Office of Private Sector, DHS
An advocate for the nation’s business community is Assistant Secretary Martinez-Fonts who last month testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on how the business community enhances the nation’s level of emergency preparedness through public-private partnerships. 

Martinez-Fonts shared with the members the characteristics of a public-private partnership, which are;

• Clearly defined mutual goals through a charter.
• Collaborative agreements on commitments to and expectations of the partnership.
• Shared leadership by the public and private sectors.
• Participation in a partnership that uses a “business case’ is attractive to recruiting businesses.
• Compatibility of the partnership’s purpose, mission, and goals.
• Public and private sector leadership that is committed to the process is essential (U.S. House of Representatives, 2007).

The Office of Private Sector’s principal partners are trade associations and Chambers of Commerce, including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), and many others.

In our experience with partnerships there are many intricacies in the challenges and benefits of a public-private partnership.  But, there are two components that will generally sustained these, which are a ‘shared leadership’ and a ‘vision’ that provides opportunities for the membership to be actively involved.

Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website
The CIP Information Exchange website is a large database for public and private sector professionals interested in homeland security, emergency preparedness, business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management.  It also contains research, government documents, news items, and more.

To enter the CIP Information Exchange website, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and enter “msu.msu@angel” in the User/NetID and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password to log in. On the next page, please click on CIP, which launches the main menu.

Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of postings, including the following:

• Radicalization in the West:  The Homegrown Threat (New York Police Department)
• Small Businesses Develop Disaster Plans
• Seven Best Practices for Emergency Notification
• CBRNIAC Provides Defense Newsletters, Updates (EMR-ISAC)

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function. 

Past Newsletters
If you are interested in viewing past CIP Update newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select "Newsletters" from the main menu.

Closing
If you have any topics and/or ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or other MSU staff members. About every three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If you no longer wish to be on this list, please reply to this email.

Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or Michigan State University.

Sources
Jones, Radford W.  (2000).  Critical Incident Protocol – A Public and Private Partnership.  Office for Domestic Preparedness, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

MarineLink.Com.  (2007).  Retrieved on August 23, 2007 from http://www.marinelink.com/Story/TexasGov.AuthorizesCreationofHoustonShipChannelSecurityDistrict-208455.html.

U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Homeland Security.  (2007).  Statement by Assistant Secretary Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Jr., Private Sector Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security on July 19, 2007.  Retrieved on August 20, 2007 from http://hsc.house.gov/hearings/index.asp?ID=72.

Brit Weber
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University
1407 S. Harrison Rd., 335 Nisbet Bldg.
East Lansing, MI 48823
Work:  (517)  355-2227      Cell:  (517) 206-1640
weberbr@msu.edu
Visit our website:  http://www.cip.msu.edu