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On June 1, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) launched its SAFECOM Nationwide Survey (SNS) and a related blog.
SAFECOM, an advisory group of public safety and elected officials, in conjunction with CISA, administers the survey. The last survey was conducted in 2018, providing a national snapshot of the status of emergency response provider capabilities necessary for achieving operability, interoperability, and continuity of emergency communications.
However, the emergency communications environment is constantly evolving. Due to emerging technologies, new legislation, and new policies, Congress requires a periodic assessment of nationwide capabilities.
The 2023 SNS results will help government officials and emergency responders better understand emergency communications needs so they can shape policy and funding, tailor programs and services, and build knowledge and awareness of capabilities and gaps.
At the national level, the survey results will help SAFECOM form strategic priorities. Data collected through the SNS will be used by CISA to identify gaps and inform the Nationwide Communication Baseline Assessment. Additionally, the results will help CISA achieve the goals of the National Emergency Communications Plan, the nation’s roadmap to ensuring emergency communications interoperability at all levels of government.
For the data to be reliable, CISA needs widespread participation across the public safety community. Any organization charged with a public-safety related mission that uses emergency communications technology is encouraged to take the survey. This means law enforcement, 911, emergency medical services (EMS), fire, and emergency management agencies across various geographies and all levels of government are encouraged to participate in the survey.
The survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and is open through Friday, July 21, 2023.
To learn more about the survey and how to participate, visit cisa.gov/sns. For additional questions and feedback, please email sns@cisa.dhs.gov.
(Source: CISA)
Faith-based communities must ensure the safety and security of houses of worship and related facilities while at the same time maintaining a welcoming environment for the communities they serve.
In May, CISA released a new resource for faith-based communities, Protecting Places of Worship: Six Steps to Enhance Security Against Targeted Violence.
This 2-page fact sheet outlines six steps that faith-based organizations and community leaders can take to increase their facility security and preparedness for an active shooter or other hostile event. The fact sheet also serves as a reference that links to numerous resources and programs across the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) tailored to faith-based organizations to help them report targeted violence, protect themselves and their facilities, obtain grant funding or technical assistance, and stay informed.
One of the six key steps in CISA’s fact sheet is “Develop and Practice a Plan.” An emergency action plan (EAP) documents the steps that personnel and volunteers will take to respond if an incident occurs. CISA links to an EAP template for an active shooter event in the fact sheet. Faith-based organizations can use this template to develop their own EAP.
Last week, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) shared its own streamlined version of the EAP template for faith-based facilities, the Active Shooter and Hostile Event Emergency Action Plan template. The template includes sections covering all aspects of the facility relevant to physical security and evacuation; emergency contact information; emergency actions following the “Run-Hide-Fight” model; staging areas; communications plan and contacts; traffic management; facility manager responsibilities; and actions and points of contact for recovery after an incident.
NJOHSP’s EAP template is accompanied by an EAP Template Guide, which provides step-by-step guidance on how to fill out each section of the EAP, and assists faith-based facilities with submitting an EAP to law enforcement agencies. The reason for NJOHSP’s streamlined EAP template was new legislation in the state of New Jersey which now requires houses of worship within the state that can seat 500 or more persons to submit emergency plans to law enforcement agencies for purpose of preparing for mass casualty and active shooter events.
Even if your jurisdiction does not require your facility to submit an EAP to municipal law enforcement or emergency management, New Jersey’s EAP template and associated guide may serve as a comprehensive example for faith-based organizations to reference when developing their own plans and coordinating with local law enforcement.
Learn more about NJOHSP’s efforts and access its EAP template in its July 3 newsletter. Learn more about CISA’s efforts to support the safety and security of houses of worship and access the Protecting Places of Worship fact sheet on CISA’s website.
(Sources: CISA, NJOHSP)
On May 9, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) announced the launch of a modernization effort to develop a new, interoperable fire information and analytics platform, known as the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), for the American fire and emergency services.
NERIS will empower the fire and emergency services community by equipping them with an empirical basis for decision-making. It will provide the community with reliable predictive analytics to support enhanced preparedness and response to all-hazard incidents, wildland urban interface events, community risk reduction efforts, climate change threats and associated resilience and mitigation efforts, and future pandemic emergency response resource preparedness.
In collaboration with USFA, Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL’s) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) will be developing NERIS, with support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T).
The USFA, FSRI and S&T will be co-hosting a virtual discussion on NERIS on Thursday, July 13, 2023, at 12 p.m. EDT. The webinar will be an opportunity to hear first-hand from leaders about the vision, purpose, and impact of the new NERIS.
The discussion will provide information about the NERIS platform itself, the new data standard on which it will be based, and the approach to development, along with key milestones and timing. There will be a live question-and-answer session following the discussion.
Learn more and register for the July 13 webinar on FSRI’s website.
(Sources: USFA, FSRI, S&T)
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