Public safety agencies in Charleston County, South Carolina, are now a bit more prepared for an emergency situation, thanks to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)-Southeast Region, which spearheaded a yearlong demonstration project to give first-responders the tools they need to succeed. 

While the project, which wrapped up in early 2004, is currently on hold due to a lack of funding, the 12 agencies that participated in it got a taste of cutting edge emergency response technologies, and, at the same time, had a chance to get to know each other a little bit better.

The Critical Incident Response Toolset (CIRT) project began in 2003, with the goal of providing first responder agencies in Charleston County with updated hardware and software to better prepare them for an emergency.  It featured wearable computers, manufactured by Xybernaut, and Tactical Survey software, produced by Tactical Survey Group (TSG).

"What we learned is that the more preparation you get, the better off you are," said Coleman Knight, Deputy Director, NLECTC-Southeast. 

Tactical Survey technology provides first responders with a 360-degree view of the site where they are working and information about the layout of the site, like which way doors swing open or where electrical switches are.  For the CIRT project, teams from TSG visited Charleston County and surveyed of a variety of potential emergency hotspots, like schools and airports.

Having that information available on wearable computers is a plus for any tactical team, said Knight.

"Having pre-designed maps and photographs of a building that you can actually work through while you are in the process of a SWAT operation of a critical incident response is extremely valuable because you can see where you are, the orientation of where you are and what should be beyond this next door," he said.

While having more detailed data about a site was helpful, one of the lessons learned during the demonstration project involved the placement of the wearable computers on the first responders.

"There's not a lot of real estate around their waist, so what are you going to do with this new piece of equipment?" said Knight.  "We incorporated it into the back of the vest of the lead guy [on the team]."

Knight explained that with the computers on the back of the vest of the first person in the stack, the second responder was responsible for utilizing the technology and giving directions, while the leader kept his eyes on the situation ahead.

The project also gave agencies some practice working together as a team, when many of them had never trained together before, Knight said. 

Jurisdictional boundaries were erased as a result of the project, which Knight and others said was a benefit.

Working Together

"That was a big plus of the project, getting those folks training together," said Knight.  "They now train together regularly."

Cathy Haynes, Deputy Director of the county's Emergency Preparedness Division, agrees.

"In the event that we have something major, we all have to work together as a team," said Haynes, who was the point person for the CIRT project from her department.  "I think it's very important." 

Knight and NLECTC were able to gather Charleston County first responder agencies around the same table to get this project off the ground

According to Major Terry Boatwright of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, that was a good experience for the people involved.

"Being around that table, we all got to know each other better," said Boatright.  "It certainly affected our networking capabilities."

Each agency chose a representative to join a CIRT working group and, once the key staff members were in place, Knight went to work pitching the importance of CIRT.

"I go in there, speak their language and we get down to brass tacks," said Knight.  "[I tell them] let's get beyond politics.  We are here to do this and everyone needs to play and everyone needs to have a role."

Knight said that the agencies involved were apprehensive about the project in the beginning, as are most organizations when they jump into a new endeavor.  But they were all interested in learning more about what this type of technology could do for them, he explained. 

They got they answer during one of the several emergency preparedness exercises they conducted in Charleston County over the course of the project, Knight said.

During one hostage-taking scenario, the hostage negotiator had a laptop with the tactical survey information on it.  Thanks to that piece of technology and the information he was receiving from the suspect on the phone, the negotiator was able to determine that his SWAT team was setting up at the wrong location.

"The negotiator pointed out that the SWAT team was setting up on the wrong door, [so they] adjusted their position 50 feet to the other door," Knight said.  "Had that been a real-life situation, that would have saved lives."

Everyday Equipment

While the technology tested in the CIRT project proved useful, Knight said that given its cost, it makes far more sense for agencies to make some alterations to it so that it has a more practical, everyday application or make changes to existing equipment, so it can be more useful during an emergency.

"We don't want to go out and create new things for a critical incident," said Knight.  "The average agency can not afford to pay $10,000 or $15,000 for a piece of equipment to put it on the shelf and pray they never have to use it." 

According to Knight, some agencies have taken the wearable computers they received during the pilot and given them everyday functionality.  With some tweaking, corrections agencies, in particular, could greatly benefit from the type of technology that was used during the demonstration project, he said. 

"The piece of equipment that we used is amenable to adding such things as finger print readers, small cameras [and] wireless communication devices, which would make them extremely valuable pieces of equipment in a correctional setting," Knight said. 

While the CIRT project was a success in Knight's eyes, it is currently simmering on a back burner, due to a lack of funding, he said.

"It's not a dead project, but it is a project that, while we are looking for additional technology, there is nothing being done at this point," said Knight.

So, will the CIRT project ever get its second wind?

"That is going to depend largely on funding," said Knight.  "As we all know, that is [big]."

Resources:

NLECTC-Southeast http://www.nlectc.org/nlectcse/