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Showing posts from August, 2013

Incident Command: Communicating the Situation and Location

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Over the past few weeks, I have been re-engineering  Police Incident Command according to   The Illinois Model  law enforcement operations system ( LEOpSys ). Most of the ideas aren't earth-shattering, but they suggest some small adjustments to the nationally-mandated program.  The first several posts lay some foundation into our vision of what IC should be.  This is Part Three.  Click on the  Incident Command label  for all posts in this short series. *** If "communication problems" are consistently cited during critiques and debriefs of police incidents and training scenarios, why aren't we doing anything about it? We too were frustrated and began tracking the stem of our communication issues. We found several common hiccups (to be kind) and addressed them with a clear and concise summary report. We adopted the term Situation Report ...or SitRep. In short, the SitRep is a quick method for briefing, updating, and directing responders to a police problem.

Incident Command: a problem-solving approach

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Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be re-engineering  Police Incident Command according to   The Illinois Model  law enforcement operations system ( LEOpSys ). Most of the ideas aren't earth-shattering, but they suggest some small adjustments to the nationally-mandated program. These first several posts lay some foundation into our vision of what IC should be. Click on the  Incident Command label  for all posts in this short series. This is Part Two. *** Incident Command is all about solving problems. Unfortunately, that's an idea that can be lost in complicated policy and systemic bureaucracy. Because public safety "problems" are so diverse, officials have found it to be difficult to apply a singular process in solving them. We contend The Illinois Model LEOpSys is a universal policing system that has effective application as a template for Incident Command for any and all problems. Police problems come in all shapes and sizes. Most frequen

Tactical Supervision: Coaches and Chessplayers

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Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be re-engineering  Police Incident Command according to   The Illinois Model  . Most of the ideas aren't earth-shattering, but they suggest some small adjustments to the nationally-mandated program. These first several posts lay some foundation into our vision of what IC should be. Click on the Incident Command label for all posts in this short series. This is Part One. *** Public safety emergency response sometimes looks like an athletic contest ; other times it looks like a boardgame . Incident commanders, tactical/strategic commanders, line-level supervisors, and responders must all understand how leadership and management factor into these two different operational environments. The analogy of the sports coach versus the chessplayer can be a powerful beginning to a more effective police response. Sports Team athletic contests like basketball, hockey, or rugby (my favorite) are fast-paced games with a running clock. Ther