Officers receive training for emergency procedures

With recent natural disasters in the United States, local law enforcement and emergency responders were being trained in how to act effectively in a multi-jurisdictional situation.

All day Thursday, over 40 local Cape Girardeau County law enforcement officers received training in procedures for an emergency that could involve many different levels of government and responders.

The National Incident Management System is a mandate by Homeland Security that provides a consistent nationwide approach for federal and local governments, the private sector and other organizations to work cohesively in disasters and other events, regardless of size.

Among those receiving training across the state were fire fighters, law enforcement officers, elected officials and members of voluteer organizations such as the American Red Cross.

In Thursday's session, the group discussed the Incident Command System, which is standardized on-scene emergency management tool that can adopt to fit different situations.

"It's a coordination effort," said Bryan Reid, a training director for the Missouri Police Chiefs Association that led the session Thursday.

The system teaches emergency responders, who would include Red Cross, and police and fire departments, to streamline their efforts under a single command, Reid said. With such a system, resources are used more efficiently, communications is improved and energy is not wasted on a task others may have already accomplished.

During Thursday's session, the officers were given the task of formulating what an emergency response would be to a flooded community.

They had to determine what their priorities were, such as setting up a base of operations and tending to evacuees, and how to proceed in the disaster, including obtaining boats to search for survivors and keeping an open forum with the media.

Reid said the system could fit any event in a community, from a parade to a flood.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 127