Fairfax County, Virginia Fire and Rescue

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Fairfax County, Virginia Fire and Rescue
Police Department Unified Hostile Incident
Guidelines
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Hostile Event Background

• April 2010 Joint Police and Fire Department
  Command Staff Meeting
• Determined that NO written guidelines exist for
  joint Police and Fire Active Shooter type
  events.
• Directive from Chief Mastin and Chief Rohrer that
  guidelines be established for police and fire to
  operate on the scene of joint hostile events.

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Establishment of PD/FRD Hostile Event Workgroup

• The establishment of the Fairfax County PD/FRD
  Hostile Event Workgroup was the result of
  dialogue between
• Major Cindy McAlister of the Criminal Justice
  Academy
• Deputy Chief Keith Johnson of the
  Training/Special Operations Division

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Establishment of PD/FRD Hostile Event Workgroup

• PD/FRD Workgroup Committee
• Fire Department
• Deputy Chief Keith Johnson Special Operations
  Division
• Deputy Chief Michael Reilly Training Division
• Battalion Chief Kenny Wolfrey Battalion 407,
  B-Shift
• Battalion Chief David( Lee) Warner, Battalion
  403, A-Shift
• Captain II Jerome Williams EMS404, B-Shift
• Law Enforcement
• Major Cindy McAlister Criminal Justice Academy
• Captain Daniel Janickey - SDO Commander
• Captain Joe R. Hill Criminal Justice Academy
• Lieutenant Mike McAlister McLean Station
• Lieutenant Thomas Rogers Reston Station

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Establishment of PD/FRD Hostile Event Workgroup

• Goal of the work group is to have police fire
  serve on a joint workgroup for the purpose of
  establishing a joint policy and future training
  for events of a tactical nature.
• The workgroup conducted a review of past training
  sessions/drills and events that were conducted in
  Fairfax County where fire and police conducted
  joint tactical operations such as an active
  shooter event.
• Examples included
• Falls Church HS active shooter drill in 2010
• Tysons Mall active shooter drill
• Numerous individual multi-unit station/battalion
  drills

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Law Enforcement and Emergency Medical Services
(LEEMS)

• This establishment of the LEEMS workgroup is a
  COG initiative that's mission is to provide a
  regional framework for a professional and
  coordinated law enforcement/fire/EMS response to
  a single or asymmetric event involving and active
  shooter(s) within the National Capital Region.
• BC Kenny Wolfrey is FXCO fire representative on
  this workgroup and Captain Daniel Janickey
  represents the police department.
• This group is a parallel work group to the FXCO
  Hostile Event Workgroup.

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Law Enforcement and Emergency Medical Services
(LEEMS)

• The scope of the LEEMS Model Policy for Law
  Enforcement and Fire/EMS Response to Law
  Enforcement Incident is intended to provide a
  framework for joint public safety agency
  personnel responding to incidents that include,
  but are not limited to active shooter events,
  hostage/barricade, high-risk warrants, civil
  disturbances, jail/correctional facility riots.
• Individual agency responses will be determined
  and/or governed by agency-specific policies and
  procedures.

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Law Enforcement and Emergency Medical Services
(LEEMS)

• Agencies with pre-existing response policies
  which exceed those described here should follow
  their procedures. However, it is requested that
  agencies adopt, at minimum, a framework which
  includes the recommended definitions and
  principles for law enforcement and Fire/EMS
  integration found in the LEEMS policy. Inclusion
  should be either as a standalone document or
  inclusion within an existing standard operating
  procedure or guide.

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Police and Fire Unified Hostile Event Workgroup

• The PD/FRD Hostile Event Workgroup concluded that
  training should be standardized from a joint
  policy/procedure or training outline.
• We acknowledged that many lessons learned have
  been established and provided to us by our
  predecessors. The goal was to capture those
  lessons learned and incorporate these action
  items in the new policy.

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Police and Fire Unified Hostile Event Workgroup

• The workgroup concluded that joint training would
  be implemented on the policy/procedure developed.
  FRD has OARS sessions and In-Service Officer
  Training while PD has In-Service Officer Training
  as well.
• Two Videos being planned
• Small scale single victim in a home, 1 shooter
• Large school type shooting, multiple victims

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Police and Fire Unified Hostile Event Workgroup

• The workgroup acknowledged some immediate areas
  of concern include the following
• Lack of Unified Command between PD and FRD.
  Unified command eventually occurs on large scale
  incidents but this needs to take place early in
  the incident so initial persons in charge can
  communicate and coordinate ops.
• Fire Departments policy for staging and waiting
  until the scene is secure and the problems that
  this policy creates.
• Lack of coordination between PD and FRD on events
  requiring joint interaction. Examples include
  misinterpretation of definitions, lack of
  awareness of each others tactical operations,
  lack of communication at command post etc.
• A common set of definitions needs to be
  established for these types of events. Ex.
  includes establishment of zones (Hot, Warm, Cold)
  etc.

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Police and Fire Unified Hostile Event Workgroup

• Tactical Medic Program.
• Future goal of the workgroup.
• This should not delay the formation of a joint
  policy or procedure.
• Currently FXCO PD Tactical Medics (Special Ops)
  meets 1 time per month for training and there are
  4 tactical medics. They are headed up by Craig
  DeAtley. During any high profile/high risk
  event, 1 tactical medic must be onscene and
  included in Ops. FRD could possibly assist in
  the future with having tactical medics available.

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Development of Unified Hostile Event Action Guide

• During the development of the joint PD/FRD Action
  Guide, the following items were considered for
  inclusion in the Action Guide.
• Establishment of initial command as well as an
  eventual Unified Command FD, PD, FCPS and
  School Security Need for the early
  establishment of a joint incident command post
  and eventual formal unified command to formulate
  an IAP.
• Identification of logistical needs to be
  identified early in incident. Statement regarding
  the early consideration for logistical items such
  as command units, shelters, canteen etc.

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Development of Unified Hostile Event Action Guide

• Communications needs/policy (PD, FD and School
  Security) A position statement regarding
  incident communications. PD will operate on the
  PD channel while FD on a FRD channel. A
  coordination channel can be established for
  specific functions if needed. Command Staff are
  encouraged to monitor PD/FRD radio channels.
• Establishment of Staging Policy for PD and FD
  (Scene Secure) Development of a staging policy.
  This could be a single staging area or multiple
  staging areas for apparatus (FRD PD). The
  criteria for scene secure vs. scene safe need
  to be established.

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Development of Unified Hostile Event Action Guide

• Establishment of work zones (Hot, Warm Cold
  zones) It was identified that while some PD
  stations and tactical unit are using zone
  terminology such as Hot, Warm and Cold, this is
  not universal throughout the PD. It was agreed
  that work zones and the definition of such are
  needed to address PD tactical ops, EMS
  operations, fire suppression operations,
  evacuation of victims and walking wounded. These
  zones must identify where FRD can operate and
  what level of security/danger can be anticipated.

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Development of Unified Hostile Event Action Guide

• Use of Casualty Collection Point (CCP), Triage
  areas and Treatment areas if needed.
  Identification, establishment and purpose of
  these work areas and in what work zones they will
  be established in. Also, what level of security
  and police assistance can be assigned/expected in
  each of these areas.
• Evidence Collection procedures Statement needed
  for the awareness of any evidence found or
  collected on the incident scene.

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Development of Unified Hostile Event Action Guide

• Scene security / perimeter control by PD
  Statement on what can be expected by PD with
  regards to the establishment of perimeter control
  and the establishment of a check-in process.
  Personnel need to be aware of the requirement to
  adhere to the check-in process.

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Action Guide

• An action guide has been developed and signed by
  the Police and Fire Chief that defines the
  Fairfax County Public Safety expectations of the
  Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
  (COG) Fire/EMS Response to a Law Enforcement
  Event policy and to assist the FRD and PD by
  providing a response framework for personnel to
  adhere to during unified responses to incidents
  of reported or potential violence.
• Action Guide is defined as the process of doing
  something in order to achieve a purpose.

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Action Guide

• The goal of this Action Guide is to ensure
  coordination between agencies resulting in scene
  control, patient treatment, and evidence
  preservation while maintaining the safety of all
  emergency personnel.
• These incidents differ greatly from routine
  events due to an increase in safety requirements
  and the necessity of a unified command structure
  for incident mitigation and coordination of
  resources.

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Action Guide

• Such incidents that this action guide will be
  applied to include, but are not limited to
• Large scale complex events like school shootings,
  workplace violence, and terrorist activities.
• Smaller scale less complex events like suicide
  attempts, single patient shootings and stabbings,
  domestic violence injuries, and assaults.

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Action Guide

• The Action Guide addresses the following Incident
  Flow Procedures
• Initial Response
• Establishment of Initial Command
• Large scale complex incidents small scale less
  complex incidents
• Staging Procedures/Considerations
• Unified Command
• Patient Movement and Treatment
• Casualty Collection Point (CCP)
• Treatment Area
• Operations involving Smoke or Fire

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Next Steps - Questions

• Present the DRAFT Action Guide to both Police and
  Fire and Rescue Command staff for comments/input.
  Completed
• Gain approval of the document from FRD-Chief
  Mastin and PD-Chief Rohrer. Completed
• Adopt/distribute the action guide among staff.
  Agencies can develop more in-depth policies or
  procedures if they desire based upon the action
  guide. In-Progress
• Develop training criteria and information for
  training on the action guide developed.
  In-Progress
• Questions Comments???