Unprepared

I was re-reading "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes -- and Why and I saw a mention of DC CERT that I'd forgotten about. The author said she "signed up online to participate and never got a response." Yep, par for the course.

Then I read "Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat," by a 911 operator/dispatcher in Minnesota. After a raid on a meth lab, a guy led officers on a foot chase, running through 3 houses, then taking an old man hostage. It wasn't known whether he had a gun. The operators were going crazy trying to keep up with the calls and dispatching for that -- plus a separate incident with an armed perp; a cop who hasn't answered calls and might be hurt or dead; and a choking baby.

"There was no way to remember it all and no way to type it. Her backup guy was busy paging the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)..."

Competition From Batman

The local blog Silver Spring Singular broke the story: police pulled over Batman in our area. For not having tags on his Batmobile.

Hey, I've got dibs here! When I'm lurking in the DisasterCave, and the Discovery Building lights start to pulse [http://youtu.be/M4K6uZInl-c], I want to be able to respond without this guy showing up to upstage me. In his black Lamborghini. Before I get there on foot.

Unfortunately, when the County Police tweeted a confirmation, the other tweeters' sympathies seemed to be with Die Fledermaus.

"LET HIM DO HIS JOB."

"Another case of DWB [Driving While Batman]"
_______________________

Police video of the traffic stop

Sit-Along Cassidy

Just finished my sit-along at the Montgomery County 911 call center. Interesting and educational, but just my luck, no chases or fun stuff.

[Thick accent, barely intelligible English] "My neighbor won't let me park in front of his house. But I'm on the street." "Sir, what is he doing to stop you from parking there?" "He says I can't." "Sir, the street is county property, so you can park there." "But what if he calls me poopy-pants?" "Then you say, 'sticks and stones...'"

OK, I made up that last bit.  But people arguing (quietly & w/o violence) was a significant percentage. "I need you to send an officer. The towing company won't give my son his car, and they're being sarcastic and obnoxious..."

Emergency Driving Distractions

Editorial

Last week, I saw an ambulance with a laptop mounted between the seats. It faced the passenger side. I said, "I'm glad the driver doesn't use it while driving, like the cops do," but I was told that's sometimes done in ambulances too.

In the cops' case, they're constantly typing in license plate numbers they see, on the off chance it will be a stolen car or the driver will be wanted. Contrary to what you see on TV and in movies, cops typically drive alone -- so they're typing with one hand while driving with the other! Needless to say, that's dangerous.

Today's NY Times has an article on this, "Driven to Distraction: Gadgets in Emergency Vehicles Seen as Peril."

Riot Control

Got a presentation from a police firearms instructor again. This time he showed us this target for firing riot-control ammo, namely shotgun-launched beanbags. Only the green areas are safe to shoot; hitting a red area might result in serious injury or even death. Doesn't leave a whole lot, does it? The instructor said cops prefer Tasers for exactly that reason.

Cops also prefer Tasers to pepper spray, because the spray gets all over, potentially affecting innocents and the officers themselves.

[Wikipedia articles on: bean bag rounds, Tasers, and pepper spray.]

Cracking the Codes

Under the National Incident Management System (NIMS), people are supposed to avoid use of acronyms and 10 codes on the radio, such as 10-4. (Though that one is probably OK). They vary too much from department to department, which inhibits communication in joint operations.

They also can vary a wee bit in severity. For example, 10-89 can mean a bomb threat, but for the Salt Lake County Sheriff, it means stolen bicycle. Other examples: