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| Thoughts from the command center: Success behind emergency management |
| By Joseph J. Marchese |
| Published: 08/06/2007 |
The fact that someone has risen through the ranks to the position of Superintendent or Warden does not in itself mean that he/she has the knowledge or skills necessary to command an emergency operation. The thought that “I am, therefore I can” does not hold true in any organizational operation, but is definitely flawed when considering emergency management, which can tax the best of administrators, even those with extensive experience in facility operations.This can be especially true in cases where elected or politically appointed officials become organizational heads and the scope of the agency’s emergency operational capabilities are either new or unfamiliar to them. Therefore the need to become competent in the facility emergency planning and operations areas, must be addressed either prior to, or immediately after a new administrator takes office. New administrators, even those who were promoted from within and had responsibilities for emergency operations, need to re-examine the scope of their duties in light of the overall management of emergency situations. They should do this by reviewing and becoming very knowledgeable with the existing emergency plan, the agency’s emergency response capabilities, the availability of equipment and resources from outside sources (back-up staffing), the competencies of the response team leaders and on-duty facility commanders, and the abilities of line officers to recognize and perform their duties in their initial and subsequent responses to emergencies. Even officers who were promoted from a position where they were responsible for emergency planning must take a new view from the perspective as agency leader. The new perspective may be much broader. For example a Deputy Warden for security that had command of the facility’s Emergency Response Team will be very familiar with the team’s tactical operations, but may not have the perspective of overall incident management, which requires a coordination of all operations involving internal and external sources. The temptation for the new administrator to rely on what he/she already knows may turn a situation “tactical” when other measures are called for, simply because that is what he/she knows best. Such leaders must also refrain from taking over their former team’s command and entrust the team duties to the new commander. Developing Emergency Management Competency A change in facility administration is cited as one of the high risk times for inmate disturbances. It is therefore necessary for new administrators to get up to speed quickly by thoroughly learning the emergency plan. It must be a priority for new administrators to attend emergency management training. Larger correctional systems may offer such training as a special seminar or during leadership training and attendance should be mandatory. In the absence of such, agency training organizations like FEMA, the National Institute of Corrections, and the American Jail Association, as well as independent consultants, can offer training and/or technical assistance to new administrators to develop their emergency management capabilities. It is important for new administrators to focus their learning on four primary emergency management areas: prevention, mitigation, response and recovery.
Assessing Emergency Response Capabilities After a read through of the plan the new administrator should meet with emergency response team commanders and discuss how the plan gets implemented. During this meeting the administrator must become familiar with a facility’s vulnerabilities (natural, man-made, and inmate generated emergencies) and its emergency response capabilities to determine what it can or cannot do. Administrators must also know equipment availability and understand the resources from outside sources (back-up staffing) and related compacts with these agencies (MOUs) to ensure the resources are there when needed. They should determine competencies (degree of training) of team leaders and on-duty facility commanders to ensure that an incident is properly managed from its on-set. The abilities (degree of training) of line officers to recognize and perform their duties in their initial and subsequent responses to emergencies is also important to know. Once new administrators have completed this training and assessment phase, emergency drills and simulations should be scheduled. It is important for them, along with their administrative staff to participate in, or at the very least oversee these events. They serve as a test of the existing emergency response capabilities and provide an opportunity for new administrators to apply their existing skills to managing a (mock) emergency situation. To often administrators fail to participate in these exercises because of other commitments. Given the scope and potential gravity of an emergency situation, failing to participate can be serious mistake. It is important to note that administrators do not need to be trained in every aspect of every team’s operation. They do need to know what each team is designed to do and their capabilities to do it. A facility administrator that attempts to micro-manage by trying to command all operations will be quickly become overwhelmed as other incident events unfold. For that reason, they need have confidence in, and trust that their team leaders will properly execute their duties. It is also important for the administrator to work with team leaders during team assessments to identify gaps in the emergency plan, and then take action to ensure that those gaps are closed. The emergency operations responsibilities placed on a new facility administrator can overwhelm an administrator during leadership transition. Therefore, they should develop a personal “learning triage” to help them prioritize important emergency management topics. Make no mistake, emergency management is a very serious undertaking, and it always involves the potential for serious injury and fatalities. It is an awesome responsibility placed on a facility administrator to know that many lives may depend upon how well he/she manages the situation. There is no surer way to place facility staff in harms way and shorten the tenure (or possibly the career) of a facility administrator than by mismanaging an emergency operation. New administrators owe it to their staff, and to themselves, to ensure that they are competent in emergency operations management. Joseph J. Marchese is a nationally recognized consultant in the area of emergency preparedness planning, hostage negotiations, and terrorist/gang management. Since 1978 he has been an advocate for the development of comprehensive emergency plans for correctional facilities. He has more than 38 years of experience in the criminal justice field, and retired as a Deputy Director of Criminal Justice for the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services in December of 2006. Marchese has served as a police officer, investigator/senior investigator, certified police trainer and criminal justice consultant, and has been training and consulting on emergency planning and hostage negotiations since 1978. Other articles by Joseph Marchese Strategizing for control Part II, 6/06/07 Strategizing for control Part I, 5/30/07 Moving back to plea bargaining, 4/4/07 |
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