Executive Summary for the Chief of Police at
Daytona Beach Police Department
Jason Scott Thornton
Arizona State University
Executive Summary for the Chief of Police at
Daytona Beach Police Department
Introduction
This proposal results from the recognition of the local emergency manger that a plan is needed to enhance the city’s ability to manage emergency/disaster situations. The Daytona Beach Police Department has never participated in any local, full-scale emergency management exercise. The current emergency operations plan appears to be adequate in wording; however, no training or exercises have been conducted to know whether there are gaps in the plan. FEMA recognizes the importance of this vital component and states that evaluating the effectiveness of a plan involves a combination of training events, exercises and real-world incidents in an effort to determine whether the goals and objectives outlined in the EOP will lead to a successful response and recovery following a disaster (Emergency Managment Institute, 2013). A disaster/emergency can strike at any moment and it is crucial that the department is fully prepared and ready to tackle the high demands of response and recovery.
Purpose
Post-incident critiques often confirm that experience gained during exercises was the best way to prepare teams to respond effectively to an emergency. Exercises should be designed to engage team members and get them working together to manage the response to a hypothetical incident (Egli, 2013). Exercises enhance knowledge of plans, allow members to improve their own performance and identify opportunities to improve capabilities to respond to real events. FEMA outlines four key areas that the department should practice and test: policies and plans, procedures and use of equipment, communication among organizations and coordination of decision making (Emergency Managment Institute, 2013).
Exercises
There are two main types of...