Generally in any given Urban Security System, its success depends heavily on the coordination and integration of all of its components.
Integration and Coordination are complementary approaches to the common goal of creating an organic system for urban security.
One can say that in integration, components of the system are fused into a single organization under a single command, where in coordination, different independent components, such as entities in the public and private sectors, are connected by compacts and other agreements to operate in unison and share resources towards their common objective.
Urban Search and Rescue current operational models draw their methodology from voluntary, humanitarian and heterogeneous civil and military communities working together to save lives and minimize safety risks. It's therefore of common acceptance that operational integration is not easily accomplished or maybe not even desired, but coordination should be very high on the operational wish-list.
This a conclusion that is often made upon analysis of Urban Search and Rescue Operations http://tinyurl.com/63kuvmz
With this is mind, organization of systems involved in emergency response may vary from city to city and from country to country but in any case a command and control model where those systems can be articulated should improve the efficiency of these operations. An important question that presents itself is on where the decision making resides and how the top decision makers coordinate responses, specifically how these persons articulate efforts encompassing city governments (mayors), hospitals, media, first responders and emergency managers.
The components for these emergency architecture can be:
- integrated command and control;
- integration and/or interoperability of telecommunication systems;
- coordination of different resources;
- coordination of different administrative jurisdictions;
- local coordination of emergency workers;
- public awareness;
- identification of risks;
In this article we want to emphasize on the Command and Control Center as a privileged place for creating or collaborating on the realization of what can be called a shared awareness.
There are different classes of Command and Control Center - Strategic, Tactical and Operational - that have different goals and priorities. But we want to focus on the Operational type of Command and Control Center, the type that is deployed on the field and is mostly focused on directly enabling first responders to perform their tasks securely and efficiently. Notwithstanding these goals that are of paramount importance, it can perhaps be envisioned that this is also a place and a component of the overall emergency response architecture that is in an ideal place to enact important coordination features.
This type of Command and Control Center may be placed ideally to perform the first critical integration segment. From sensors to intelligence the opportunities for efficient articulation are numerous.
A shared awareness capability at this level could be comprised of:
- Although secure, accessible from anywhere without dependencies on local infrastructure that might not be up anyway;
- An entry point for voice communications between strategic or tactical decision makers and operational people in the field;
- An enabler of online virtual meetings with a possibility to view a map-based situation evolving in real-time;
- An interface for disseminating different type of information, to hospitals and media for instance;
It seems likely that such a Command and Control Center could help not only improve the work of first responders, but also the coordination of the full set of operations as a whole.
We would like to know more of the different perspectives that different operational groups may have that could be orchestrated in a single platform that can be useful and empowering for all and obstacle for none.
