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ICS: The Incident Command System

ROY NEWTON

LOMBARD POLICE DEPARTMENT

CHIEF OF POLICE

DUPAGE COUNTY INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM

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Current Trends

  • What is your Chain of Command
  • Have you practiced
  • What is a Lockdown
    • Soft – No imminent danger
    • Hard – Implies imminent danger is known, take action
  • Do you have a program in place (ALICE Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate) or Run Hide Fight
  • Questions Now?

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What is Incident Command

  • Standardized, on-scene, ALL-hazard incident management concept
  • Allows users to adopt an integrated organizational structure to match the complexities and demands of a single or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries
  • Structure:
    • Incident Commander
    • Safety Officer
    • Logistics Officer
    • Planning Officer
    • Information Officer

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Purpose

  • Using management best practices to ensure:
    • The safety of responders and others
    • The achievement of tactical objectives
    • The efficient use of resources

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Benefits

  • Meets the needs of incidents of any kind or size
  • Allows personnel from a variety of agencies to meld rapidly into a common management structure
  • Provides logistical and administrative support to operational staff
  • Is COST EFFECTIVE by avoiding duplication of efforts

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Basic Features of ICS

  • Common Terminology – Language
  • Modular Organization
  • Management by Objectives
  • Reliance on an Incident Action Plan (IAP)
  • Chain of Command and unity of command
  • Unified Command
  • Manageable Span of Control

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Additional Features

  • Designated incident locations and facilities
  • Resource management
  • Information and Intelligence management
  • Integrated communications
  • Transfer of Command
  • Accountability

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Common Terminology

  • Using common terminology to define
    • Organizational functions
    • Incident facilities
    • Resource descriptions
    • Position titles
    • Communications should be in plain English or clear text
    • Cannot use radio codes, agency specific codes, or police / fire jargon
    • What if a police situation and only officers there, can’t we use our jargon?

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Huh?

  • This is Lincoln 1, we have a 10-37 that requires a code 2 response

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  • How about:
  • This is Unit Lincoln 1, the flood waters are rising and we need additional resources for sandbagging

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ICS Model

  • Top-Down modular fashion
  • Based on the size and complexity of incident
  • Based on the hazard environment created by the incident
  • Objectives determine organizational size
  • Fill functions and positions that are necessary
  • Each area must have a person in charge

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Objectives

  • ICS is managed by objectives
  • Objectives are communicated throughout the entire ICS organization through the incident planning process
  • Objective Priority:
    • Life Saving
    • Incident Stabilization
    • Property Preservation

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How Do We Meet That

  • Reliance on an Incident Action Plan (IAP)
  • Every Incident must have an IAP
    • Specifies the objectives
    • Activities to be completed
    • Covers a specific time period (operational period)
    • May be oral but not best practice – best to have written plan

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Elements of a IAP

  • What do we want to do?
  • Who is responsible for doing it?
  • How do we communicate?
  • What is the procedure if someone is injured?
  • Who talks to Who?
  • Who is in charge?

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Chain of Command

  • An orderly line of authority within the ranks of the incident management organization
  • Unity of Command
    • Report to only ONE supervisor, and
    • Receive work assignments only from their supervisor, thus
    • No individual should answer to more than ONE supervisor

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    • UNIFIED COMMAND: Enables all agencies to manage an incident together by establishing a common set of objectives and strategies
    • Allows for joint decisions

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Manageable Span of Control

  • Too many Cooks in the Kitchen
  • Pertains to the number of individuals or resources that one supervisor can manage effectively during an incident
  • Span is between 3 to 7 subordinates but optimally does not exceed 5

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Incident Facilities

  • Incident Command Post – GREEN LIGHT
  • All incidents will have a Command Post
  • Staging Areas of personnel and equipment
  • What is around you to use
    • Hotel
    • Parking lots
    • Malls
    • Schools
    • Parks

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Incident Command

  • WHADDA YA GOT
  • WHADDA YA DONE
  • WHADDA YA NEED

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  • Commander assumes command
  • Assigns / Creates staff
  • Delegates
  • Provides Leadership
  • Ensures incident safety

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Other Staff as Necessary

  • Safety Officer – Authority to STOP an operation
  • Liaison Officer
  • Public Information Officer
  • Operations – Develops and implements plans and strategies, also tactical response and staging
  • Logistics – Water, Food, Bathroom, Equipment
  • Planning – Gathers intelligence, compiles action plan
  • Finance

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Command Posts

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Incidents for Police / Fire

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School Plans

  • Your schools are entrusted to provide safe and healthy learning environment
  • Your parents expect it!
  • Human caused emergencies (crime and violence)
  • Natural Disasters
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Accidents

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Planning

  • Planning must be supported by leadership
  • Planning uses assessment to customize plans to your building. The unique outline. Layout, and resources to your building
  • Planning considers ALL threats and Hazards
  • Planning for the entire school population (disabilities)
  • Planning for ALL times and field trips

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Process

  • Develop an EOP – Emergency Operations Plan with your community partners (police and fire)
  • Identify Hazards
  • Goals - Indicate a desired outcome
    • Before – Prevent a Fire
    • During – Protect persons from injury
    • After – Provide Medical Attention
  • Objectives – Specific, Measurable actions to achieve goals such as provide training and proper storage of equipment

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Operations

  • Who has the authority to activate the plan
  • Who is contacted based on the plan
    • Police
    • Fire
    • Parents
    • Health Department
    • Other Schools in District
  • Actions taken before, during, after
    • Prevent, Protect, Mitigate
    • Respond and minimize impact on life and property
    • Recover after emergency

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ICS Organization -School

  • Determine the roles and responsibilities
    • Administrators
    • Principal
    • Teachers
    • Instructional Aides
    • Counselors
    • Social Workers
    • Nurse
    • Maintenance Staff
    • SRO
    • Parents

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Example

  • Maintenance
  • Administrator
  • Principal
  • Social Workers
  • Teachers
    • Direct students to inside / outside assembly areas
    • Account for students
    • Report missing
    • Obtain and direct to first aid

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Training and Exercises

  • To support the plan, critical training and excerises should be practiced.
  • Training ensures that staff, students, faculty, and parents understand roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
  • What is the frequency of exercises?
  • Does your district or municipality mandate training
  • Basic Fire, Shelter in Place, Tornado

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Training

  • Evacuation – How to safely move students
    • To designated areas
    • When the route is unusable
    • When students are not with a teacher or staff member
    • Students with disabilities
  • Lockdown – Threat in / around school
    • How to lock doors OR when not safe to do so
    • How does a particular classroom impact a lockdown
    • Variations of a lockdown – Hard / Soft
      • Soft visitors are closely monitored but all activities remain normal

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Training

  • Shelter in Place – Safer inside than outside for an extended period of time
  • Do rooms need to be sealed from chemical or biological threat or issue
  • Weather shelter considerations
  • Supplies needed
  • Need to move again or integration of safe rooms

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Training

  • Accounting for All Persons
    • How to determine who is in attendance at the assembly
    • What to do when a student, staff, guest, is not located
    • Who reports to assembly supervisor
    • Who / How determines and announces when students will be dismissed or released
  • Communications / Warning
    • Radio and School broadcast system
    • Can staff operate
    • Contact authorities
    • Media

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Those Parents

  • Family Reunification
    • How to inform families in advance and describe their roles
    • Who is authorized to take custody of a student
    • Parent check-in / check out procedures
    • Students who leave on their own
    • Technology rules
    • Language barriers
    • Do you have a system

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Maintenance of Plan

  • After a real event or exercise
    • Did the plan work
    • What can be changed or modified
    • Who needs to be “re-assigned”
    • Did that exit work?
    • Was that area safe?

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Back to ICS – UGH!

  • Support for all types of emergencies
  • Management of resources
  • Policies and Procedures that exist outside the plan
    • Identify administrative controls – budget and expenditures
    • Maintain accurate logs of actions – activities
    • How are vital records preserved
    • Policy for keeping financial records, tracking resources needs or use, acquiring resources, and future compensation

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Recovery

  • Academic Recovery (back to school)
  • Physical Recovery (assets, utility, insurance)
  • Fiscal Recovery (gov’t relief, payroll, insurance)
  • Psychological and Emotional Recovery
    • Team leader
    • Counseling
    • Psychological First Aide
    • Short – Long term
    • Commemorations, memorial activity, markers, statues
  • Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools
  • Rems.ed.gov

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