CIP Update

March 09, 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, planning, and prevention.

Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Office of Grants & Training, Preparedness Directorate, 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.

 

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

Participating Communities


The CIP Program represents 30 communities in 19 states with 2,004 participants collaborating on public-private partnerships for joint management of critical incidents. We are looking to work other cities, counties and regions over the next couple of years.  Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in building a public-private partnership for joint emergency preparedness?  If so, please let us know.  Presently, we are working with:

Allentown, PA / Annapolis, MD / Bethlehem, PA / Brooklyn, OH / Brown County, WI / Carroll County, MD / Casa Grande, AZ / Clark County, NV / Dallas, TX / Douglas County, KS / Evansville, IN / GCCC-St. Louis, MO / Hoover, AL / 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

Welcome Dallas, Texas to the CIP Program

The City of Dallas has been building public-private partnerships for a long time and recently elected to participate in the CIP Program.  The workshop was sponsored by the Dallas Office of Emergency Management and the Dallas Building Owners & Managers Association, which was supported by the Texas Baptist Men group.  On February 27, 2007, we facilitated a workshop at the Dallas American Red Cross for 55 people who networked and collaborated on emergency preparedness, risk assessment, resource identification, command and control, and other relevant topics. 

A few years ago, the City of Dallas through the police department utilized our publication the 'Critical Incident Protocol - A Public and Private Partnership' as a guide when the city developed the Downtown Emergency Response Team (DERT).  The DERT program is funded through the city and covers the downtown business district, which provides specific city services to the business community.  In essence, Dallas developed a public-private partnership.  Unfortunately, there was not a mechanism in place to cascade this model outside of the downtown area.  Therefore, through the CIP Program, MSU has established the Dallas Northwest Partnership, which is located in the northwest quadrant, adjacent to the downtown area.

The following organizations participated in the workshop: various Dallas city agencies, including emergency management, fire, police, public works/transportation, aviation, and public health, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Dallas County Health & Human Services, Dallas County Schools, Dallas County of Security & Emergency Management, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Chase Bank, Affiliated Computer Services, Association of Contingency Planners, Bank of America, Dubin & Associates, Stemmons Corridor Business Association, Community Council of Greater Dallas, Southwest Airlines, Downtown Dallas Improvement District, Renaissance Dallas Hotel, Parkland Hospital, J.C. Penny Company, SPCA of Texas, Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Volunteer Center of North Texas, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Texas Baptist Men, and the Children's Medical Center.

Bethlehem CIP Group Participates in Tabletop Exercise

Representatives from public and private sector organizations met on the campus of Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on February 15, 2007 to discuss issues and concerns illustrated in a tabletop exercise scenario. The objectives of the exercise were to 1) identify roles and clarify responsibilities 2) enhance skills 3) measure resources 4) build teamwork and improve coordination 5) validate emergency response plan and 6) provide feedback.

The scenario was presented in five segments, beginning with an initial briefing where participants learned that a train had derailed next to the Lehigh River. Each group was then directed to review the scenario, record what actions should be taken, and determine sector-specific (public or private) response priorities. Participants from the public sector were encouraged to communicate with private sector members during this time.

Each group subsequently presented its list of priorities to the other group for member review and comments. The exchange of information allowed participants to identify what seemed to be working and areas that needed improvements. As the situation evolved, the next three segments repeated the process of information release, group discussion, sector-specific priorities, and information exchange.

Segments one, two and three dealt with response actions, while segment four focused on recovery issues. Segment five served as a short, hot-wash debriefing and critique of the exercise. In addition to offering comments, participants and observers alike were asked to complete and submit the written exercise evaluation. Many comments on the evaluations indicated a need to do more exercises and training, as well as seeking more private sector participation.

Public sector groups represented at the event included Bethlehem Area School District, Northampton Community College, Bethlehem Health Bureau, Bethlehem Police Department, Bethlehem Emergency Medical Services, and Bethlehem Fire Department. Private sector groups included Moravian College, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Lehigh University.

Thank You for Your Response on CIP Program

Recently, we polled communities where we have initiated the CIP Program to ask if the program was of value or not to their organization and community.  We received 42 responses with 37 of them being positive and providing various examples.  Thank you for responding.

"Live Chat" Presentation on Public-Private Partnerships

In our last 'CIP Update' newsletter edition of February 16, 2007, we profiled an excellent report that was recently published by Business Executives for National Security (BENS) called Getting Down to Business: An Action Plan for Public-Private Disaster Response Coordination.  The report focuses on three main areas: public-private collaboration, surge capacity/supply chain management, and legal & regulatory environment.  The report is available at http://www.bens.org/Getting-Down-To-Business.pdf and to learn more about BENS go to their website at http://www.bens.org.

Please join a live chat and interactive Q&A session on March 14, 2007 at 12:00 Noon Eastern time with representatives from BENS who will discuss how best to improve business-government collaboration during large-scale domestic events, as stated in their publication.  This session is sponsored by the Emergency Information Infrastructure Partnership.  To learn more about this unique opportunity, please go to http://emforum.org.

State of Wisconsin Funds Public-Private Partnerships

The State of Wisconsin is committed to partnership building and has established within the Office of Justice Assistance (OJA) the responsibility for public-private partnerships.  More importantly, they have allocated money for grants to establish regional homeland security public and private partnerships. 

By fostering the development of relationships among public and private stakeholders within a region, the public/private partnerships will provide the structure for improved information sharing, better resource coordination, and a more collaborative approach to planning, training, exercising, and response.   By getting a diverse group of participants across sectors to the table, the partnerships will also throw the issue of interdependency into greater focus and improve coordination among groups of stakeholders.  The partnerships will also increase community awareness and support for homeland security initiatives and assist in the long-term sustainability of programs.

OJA will provide financial support, technical assistance, and guidance on the structure and mission of the partnerships but will allow the partnerships to be locally driven, addressing needs particular to the community and region.  Technical assistance may be available via the nationally recognized Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) program developed by Michigan State University. The objectives and activities of the partnerships could include:

Grant funds will initially be used to support five partnerships in the largest urban areas in five of the six Wisconsin Emergency Management regions (there currently are a number of existing partnerships in the Milwaukee area/Southeast region).  These cities— Madison, Green Bay, Eau Claire, Wausau, and Superior—will be invited to apply for the initial grants.  An additional five cities will be invited to apply in fiscal year 2007.  Grants awards will be for approximately $25,000.  Additional funding will be used to plan and hold a statewide conference to bring together public and private partners across the state and the region to share ideas and information (Duecker, 2007). 

For more information on this unique program, please contact David Duecker, OJA at either (608) 261-7538 or by email at david.duecker@wisconsin.gov.

Upcoming CIP Workshops

If you would like to attend one of our workshops, please contact us.

Recent Postings to 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 to the welcome page, then on the bottom of the page click on Continue, which takes you to the main menu.

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

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, use the "search" function, which can be found on the main menu page on the right-hand side in the green task bar.

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.

Source

Duecker, David. (March 2007).  Personal email from David Duecker to Brit Weber on March 6, 2007.

 

Please note my new email address of weberbr@msu.edu

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