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by Russell J. Decker, CEM
Last year at this time people would come up to
me and ask, what does E-M-A stand for? Now those
same people remark, boy you guys sure seem busy.
Both comments at least show an interest in our agency
by the public at-large and a lot of folks still express
some confusion about what exactly our agency does.
Thus, I thought I would take this opportunity to try
and explain our history and our mission.
Our agency and mission has changed dramatically
since its inception back in 1952 when Congress created
the Civil Defense and mandated local CD offices
across the country. Through the years the name has
changed several times from Civil Defense, to Disaster
Service Administration, to Emergency Management,
and now to the Office of Homeland Security &
Emergency Management.
As with the name changes of the past, the recent
name change locally reflects similar changes taking
place in Washington, D. C. On March 1, 2003 the
Congress created the United States Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) by merging 23 existing
government agencies under one new authority with
Tom Ridge serving as the department's first Secretary
of Homeland Security on the President's cabinet.
Many of the agencies under this new DHS, such as
the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and FEMA, maintain
their own high profile mission of protecting our citizens
from all types of hazards including natural disasters
and man-made disasters such as acts of terrorism.
Locally, the Board of Allen County Commissioners
formally passed a resolution changing our agency
name from the Allen County Emergency Management
Agency to the Allen County Office of Homeland
Security & Emergency Management. Under the new
agency, several divisions exist.
These include:
- Emergency Management Agency charged with
planning for and coordinating response to life
threatening emergencies from all hazards including
natural disasters and acts of domestic terrorism.
- 9-1-1 Administrative Services charged with
providing fiscal and other administrative support
services for the county's 9-1-1 emergency
telephone system.
- Local Emergency Planning Committee, with
members nominated by County Commissioners
and appointed by the State Emergency Response
Commission, this Committee is charged with
writing, revising, exercising and training first
responders on the county's hazardous materials
emergency plan.
- Special Hazards Response Unit comprised of
more than 80 certified hazardous materials specialists
from 11 different Allen County public safety agencies.
- Citizen Corps Council to serve President Bush's
call for local volunteers prepared and willing to serve
their fellow citizens in times of crisis.
Since federal grants were first made available for
counter-terrorism and most recently homeland security
purposes, Allen County has brought more than
$725,000 of these federal dollars back to Lima from
Washington for the purpose of acquiring necessary
equipment and training for local first responders to
deal with chemical, biological, radiological and
explosive weapons.
"We are pleased to bring these federal tax dollars
back to Lima", explained county Homeland Security
& Emergency Management Director Russ Decker.
"These grants are especially attractive because they
are based on 100% federal dollars with no local
matching funds required."
Deciding on how these grant funds are to be
spent is the job of the Allen County Homeland Security
Advisory Committee (HSAC) appointed by the Board
of Allen County Commissioners. In addition to the
Commissioners and Director Decker other members
of the HSAC include Sheriff Dan Beck, Lima police
chief Greg Garlock, Lima fire chief Jim Foust, Elida
fire chief Lanny Bailey, Delphos mayor Jerry
Neumeier, county engineer Wayne Gerdeman, county
health commissioner Dave Rosebrock, Shawnee
Township trustee Russ Holly, John Walters of St.
Medical Center, and Fred Fassel representing local
industrial facilities.
NOTE: Just prior to the printing of this annual
report it was announced in Washington, D.C. by the
U. S. Department of Homeland Security that Allen
County would be awarded an additional $408,000
of planning, training and equipment grants in 2004.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, President Bush announced his plans for
the USA Freedom Corps, an organized effort to recruit
and train Americans interested in volunteering their
time and service to help their fellow citizens in times
of crisis and disaster. An important part of the USA
Freedom Corps movement is the Citizen Corps.
In Ohio, the Department of Public Safety has embraced
the concept and launched the Ohio Citizen Corps made
up of smaller Citizen Corps groups from more than 50
of the state's 88 counties. In our area, the Allen County
Citizen Corps Council was officially registered with the
U. S. Department of Homeland Security in the summer
of 2003 and the Allen County Commissioners designated
the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) to
serve as the county's official Citizen Corps Council.
"Now the Allen County Citizen Corps Council is
seeking local volunteers to serve in the CCC program.
Anyone with a little extra time on their hands and a
willingness to help their neighbor is welcome to join
the Citizen Corps movement," according to Timothy
Haniford, chairman of the local CCC.
If you are interested in becoming a Citizen Corps
volunteer in Allen County you are urged to contact the
county Office of Homeland Security & Emergency
Management at (419) 993-1405 and ask for a Citizen
Corps volunteer application.
Expanding the current Allen County outdoor warning
siren system from 19 sirens to 36 is a project moving to
the front burner in 2004.
The county's siren project first began in 1994 with
the donation of five sirens to the county by BP Lima
Chemicals and Lima Refinery. Those original five sirens
are all located in the area immediately adjacent to
the refinery and chemical plant complex serving the
residents of Shawnee Township and the city of Lima.
Since that time additional sirens have been purchased
through federal grant awards from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, Department of Health and Human
Services, the Community Development Block Grant
program, coupled with some state funding from the Ohio
Department of Public Safety and local funds from the
Allen County general fund, as well as local municipal,
village and township funds in some cases.
The county's current outdoor warning sirens are
located at: Faurot Park, Lima Stadium, Hughes Avenue
at 4th St., South Dixie Hwy., Zurmehly Road, SR117 at
Shawnee Rd., Fairgrounds, Elida FD (Edgewood),
Spencerville, Lima Federal Bldg., Cairo, Elida, Kewpee
West, Lima FD (Robb Ave.), Bryn Mawr at Elm St.,
Bluffton (2 locations), Lafayette, and Harrod.
Requests for seventeen additional sirens have been
made by local public safety and elected officials. It is
hoped that the necessary funding for these remaining
requests will be found in 2004 with help from Congressman
Mike Oxley's office and the U. S. Department of Homeland
Security. Completion of the siren system is scheduled
for the fall of 2004 or spring of 2005.
The Speakers Bureau of the Office of Homeland
Security & Emergency Management was busy in 2003
with more than 65 presentations to nearly 2000 people!
If you are interested in a speaker for your group call
the OHSEM at (419) 993-1404. Speakers are available
on a variety of topics including but not limited to:
- Severe Weather Safety
- Storm Spotter Training
- Hazardous Materials Awareness
- Ozone Days
- Environmental Issues (including emergency
spills response and mercury)
- Homeland Security
Many of your friends and neighbors have utilized
presentations from our Speakers Bureau. Look at some
of the places we visited in 2003:
- Allen County Families
of Active Military
- Allen County Insurance Adjusters
- Allen County Manufacturers Council
- Allen County
Police Memorial
- Allen County School Superintendents
- Allen East Schools
- Bath Local Schools
- Boulevard
Neighborhood Association
- Bradfield Center
- Delphos Jefferson School
- Elida Schools
- FOP Lodge
#21
- FOPA Lodge #8
- Furl Williams Apartments
- Lima-
Allen County Chamber of Commerce
- Lima City Schools
- Lima Convalescent Home
- Lima Exchange Club
- Lima
Firefighters Memorial
- Lima Noon Optimist Club Safety
City
- Lima Rotary Club
- Lost Creek Care Center
- Northwest Ohio Amateur Radio Club
- Northwest Ohio
Buckeye State Sheriffs Association
- Ohio Northern
University
- Ottawa River Coalition
- Perry Local Schools
- Rhodes State College
- Shawnee Schools
- Shawnee United
Methodist Church
- UAW Retirees
- West Central Ohio
Safety Council
Transcript of keynote address by Russ Decker
11th annual Police Memorial Service in Lima, Ohio
May 14, 2003
It is indeed a privilege for me to be here today as
we join together to honor these brave men who have
paid the ultimate price so that we might sleep a little
sounder and feel a little safer in our homes tonight.
I want to talk a little bit this afternoon about the
ever-changing role of the law enforcement officer in
the world today. With all the concerns about homeland
security, "weapons of mass destruction", and the very
real fear that our citizens might be subjected to chemical,
biological, or radioactive weapons, the dangers faced
by our brave law enforcement officers today has increased
by ten fold just over the last several months. It is a
different world today.
We are now asking more of our officers than ever
before. It is simply not good enough to be a great cop,
you must also be an explosives specialist, always aware
of secondary explosive devices placed specifically in
locations where officers are likely to gather.
You must be a biologist, able to sense, understand,
and protect yourself and the citizens you serve from
the calculated release of biological agents aimed at
disabling and killing innocent people.
You must be a chemist, knowledgeable in the more
than three hundred chemicals identified as potential
terrorist weapons, many of which are manufactured,
stored, or travel through this community on a daily
basis.
And you need to be aware and knowledgeable of
the field of radiation and nuclear science in order to
understand how to best protect yourself and
others from potential disasters like dirty bombs and
radioactive spills.
It is a different world today.
Just think for a minute about all the words and
terms that we take for granted today that we never
even thought about just eighteen months ago: sleeper
cells, Al-Queida, anthrax, dirty bombs, ricin, sarin,
quarantines, WMD, and smallpox just to name a few.
In fact, during President Bush's recent visit to the
Lima Army Tank Plant, the changing threats were
apparent. While preparing for a presidential visit has
always included concerns about bombs and assassins,
now officials are equally concerned about the location
of the nearest bio/chem laboratories, whether or not
our community has responders trained in chemical,
biological, and nuclear weapons, and how prepared
are we for the possible decontamination of victims
exposed to these non-conventional weapons.
Today in Allen County we have sixteen law
enforcement officers that are fully trained as Hazmat
technicians. This was something not even considered
a decade ago and in fact it is an area where Lima and
Allen County lead our state and nation. It is only through
the proactive actions of Sheriff Beck and Chief Garlock
that we have integrated this level of training into the
law enforcement community here. Previously this was
an area of training always thought to be that of the fire
service and EMA. But not today, we now know that
we have to be prepared for new weapons and new
threats in the hands of those who wish us harm. And a
new unified approach to responding to those threats is
essential.
It is a different world today.
Recently during a meeting I attended in Washington,
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge addressed
our group and talked about America's front line soldiers
in the war on terrorism. He spoke about our first
responders, law enforcement, fire, E-M-S, emergency
management, hazmat, and public health. We are building teams of
responders in every community around this nation
to serve as our front line warriors to fight this battle
and it is a mix of people and backgrounds like never
before experienced.
It will soon become more common than not to
see law enforcement working side by side with partners
from various disciplines like fire, health,
and hazmat because we have all come to the realization
that this is a different world today.
And in addition to expanded training and
responsibility for our officers and public safety partners,
there is also an increasing sharing of the workload
and responsibility with the citizens that we are all
sworn to protect. We call on the public to be more
observant and to call police and sheriff's offices
when they see things that just don't look right. We
call on the public to be patient and more tolerant of
delays and inconveniences when traveling, as steps
are put in place to secure their safety in the air, on
trains, buses and at sea.
We know that these changes are not easy. Americans
love being free, being able to do what they want,
when they want. But with freedom comes
responsibility. There are those who argue for an
absolute freedom, a right they say given to them by
our founding fathers. But in reading the Federalist
Papers of Hamilton, Madison and Jay, one quickly
learns that
even our founding fathers knew that what they were
working so hard for was a nation that could enjoy
responsible freedom not absolute freedom.
So what's the difference? Responsible freedom
means we have to find that line between what we
would like to do and what we can reasonably expect
to do without putting others or ourselves in harm's
way. For instance, it is reasonable to expect to go
through a metal detector when you enter
most government buildings or to have to park in
restricted areas at public gatherings. This has occurred
for sometime, but today's new threat means new
responsibility and yes in some cases sacrifices in the
interest of safety for the common good.
You now see signs advising that containers may
be subject to inspection before entering large public
events; in some of our major cities we are following
trends first debuted in London to eliminate trash
containers on downtown sidewalks simply because
it makes it too convenient of a place for terrorists to
place bombs. Something as simple as a trash can
now must have a second glance by planners and law
enforcement as we look to protect our citizens.
There are those who will fight these new
responsibilities. They argue we are violating their
right to absolute freedom, sometimes referred to as
intellectual freedom, or caution that the behavior of
our government is drifting toward that of earlier
dictators and tyrants. This argument is simply absurd.
This is from the same people who kicked prayer out
of school and who now want us to take the words
"under God" out of our Pledge of Allegiance.
It IS a different world today. Every officer here
knows that it became a much more dangerous place
after nine-eleven. Every officer here has stepped up
to the plate, put forth extra efforts to train and
understand these new threats. And every officer here
knows this is just the beginning. It is a different
world today. Be careful out there, and may God bless
America.
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