Multi-agency Response Research Articles

Multi-agency operations: Cooperation during flooding

This paper presents an investigation of command and control during Multi-Agency Operations; the purpose of this study was to elaborate on known themes associated with multi-agency emergency response, through a study of the successful combined military and civilian defence of Walham electricity substation from rising flood water in July 2007.This case study demonstrates that effective coordination during major emergencies requires the development of a deeper, shared understanding of the incident and a high level of trust between responding organisations, both of which are effortful to achieve and difficult to support with current communications systems. Adoption of a sociotechnical systems approach during the development process may enable future communications systems to support these important social processes.

Interpreting Multi-Agency Partnerships: Ideology, Discourse and Domestic Violence

This article examines local multi-agency responses to local domestic violence, in particular considering how the introduction of local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP) in the UK in the late 1990s affected service provision. Using a longitudinal case study, the article considers how feminist ideologies have been supplanted by a combination of judicial processes and bureaucratic politics. These developments are represented by three dominant discourses: ‘criminal justice’, ‘managerialism’ and ‘equalities’; discourses that have had a number of consequences in the implementation of domestic violence policy. The first is that a one-dimensional criminal justice discourse has displaced a feminist political, power and control, analysis. Second, the ascendancy of managerialism has allowed prescriptive short-term performance measurement to prevail over long-term ‘sufferer-orientated’ responses, and finally an ‘equalities’ discourse prioritized perpetrator initiatives and discouraged dissent. The result has been the dominance of the statutory sector, a marginalization of voluntary agencies and a partial alienation of women’s groups; a process which has proved detrimental both to the interests of female sufferers (who form approximately 90 per cent of victims of domestic violence) as well as voluntary agencies.

Drafting a new curriculum for pre-registration nursing

The PasT year has been a watershed year for mental health nursing. schools of nursing are drafting the new pre-registration curriculum that will shape the identity, direction and future of the specialty. This vital task is being undertaken in the context of constrained budgets in higher education institutions (heIs) and in the Nhs, and takes account of the needs of the influential adult nursing specialty and the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) guidance on competencies. Other mental health policy drivers include the review of mental health nursing in scotland, which culminated in Rights, Relationships and Recovery: Refreshed (Mental health Delivery and services 2010), an update of the original policy document of the same name (scottish executive 2006). The National Framework for Pre-Registration Mental health Nursing Programmes in scotland (Nhs education for scotland 2007) also guides programme and placement providers in heIs and mental health services. The document was produced jointly by practitioners, service users, carers and representatives from all heIs in scotland to apply agreed standards to all pre-registration programmes. These policies, and analogous drivers across the UK, are constantly defining and developing the roles, values and attitudes of mental health nurses, and hence the expectations of a graduate’s competencies. Mental health nurses care for one of the most marginalised and disempowered groups in our communities. Training and education prepare them to respond effectively to the needs of these people, to ensure their voices are heard. If this is not successful, there is a danger that service users’ needs will not be met, and that the specialist mental health nursing profession will be downgraded. The NMC’s UK-wide consultation (NMC 2008, 2010) appeared to favour the abolition of training in separate branches of nursing, but a switch to generic training was overwhelmingly rejected by respondents. The consultation then drafted both generic and specialised fields of competency for degree-level pre-registration training, with shared learning. The mental health nursing profession must remain alert to the need to promote specialised mental health nursing education. Mental health nursing increasingly emphasises care in the community, multi-agency community services, out-of-hours and crisis response teams and wider access to talk-based therapies. In scotland, this has been part of the shifting the Balance of Care initiative (Nhs scotland 2009). Older people’s wellbeing, involving mental health problems and dementia, is a priority in balancing care.

Improving Home-Based Hospice Understanding and Use of the National Incident Management System for Emergency and Disaster Preparation and Response

Critical to an organized and successful emergency response is having a plan based on the framework used exclusively by community and national emergency service organizations, that is, the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Standardization is vital so that diverse types of organizations can work in harmony to respond to emergencies. NIMS provides the opportunity for this standardization. Home-based hospices are generally unaware of NIMS and its value during a multiagency response to an incident. Care should be taken to revise emergency and disaster preparation and response plans to reflect the national standard.

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009: Setting up a multi-agency regional response centre — a toolkit for other public health emergencies

The H1N1 pandemic emerged from Mexico in April 2009. In the UK, local Health Protection Units were quickly overwhelmed with calls from health professionals seeking public health advice on this novel virus. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) led the initial response and established regional flu response centres (FRCs). In London, the HPA’s flu response moved swiftly from four in-house emergency operations centres to a fully functional multiagency response centre in rented office space, working with a new database, IT and telephone systems to provide a regional response. Surge capacity was sought from the National Health Service (NHS) and other agencies. The London FRC transferred to NHS leadership supported by the existing management team to assist the NHS in London prior to the opening of the National Pandemic Flu Service. Structured debriefs were undertaken, identifying lessons for future evolving incidents. This paper gives an overview of the activation, resilience and decommissioning of the London FRC, incorporating the lessons identified and key recommendations into a toolkit for future emergency evolving incidents that adopt a regional response centre model.

Creating Safer Communities for Children and Youth: The Role of the Police in Crime Prevention

The authors examine the role of the police in crime prevention in the Canadian context, based on in-depth interviews with police officers in six police agencies across the country. They explore core policing functions and consider the role of the police in crime prevention. They discuss three recent studies of crime prevention practices in Canada, and focus in particular on Crime Prevention through Social Development (CPSD). The authors conclude that social development issues are not often seen as part of a core policing function. They argue that the police are in a unique position with respect to CPSD since they are well positioned to facilitate an integrated, multi-agency response to social problems. An alternative role for the police is discussed which would consolidate their law enforcement and crime prevention roles through the facilitation of an integrated problem solving approach based on partnerships with other service agencies. A number of recent studies have examined the role of Canadian police agencies in crime prevention including programs and activities aimed at youth. In this article, we consider several types of crime prevention and then present a brief overview of recent Canadian research describing the role of the police in crime prevention. We then discuss the results of our own research on this subject that is based on interviews with police officers at different ranks, from six police agencies across the country. We conclude by considering the role that the police could play in crime prevention and how this might influence the future of policing in this country. Crime Prevention Strategies It is clear that the police in Canada have a long history of involvement in crime prevention activities (Vallee, 2010). Beginning with initial efforts at preventing previous offenders from reoffending, police involvement in crime prevention today encompasses a wide array of programs and activities. Sherman et al. (1997) identify the following as major varieties of crime prevention: 1. Numbers of Police 2. Rapid Response 3. Random Patrols 4. Directed Patrols 5. Reactive Arrests 6. Proactive Arrests 7. Community Policing

Tularemia Outbreak at a Metropolitan Airport, Texas

A jackrabbit die-off near a metropolitan airport was observed by an airport contractor. Further investigation determined that this die-off was probably due to epizootic tularemia. Because of proximity to areas of heavy human traffic and fears of transmission of tularemia to humans, the local health district and department of emergency management organized a multiagency response involving local animal control, environmental health, public health, law enforcement, and airport personnel, in addition to state and federal agencies. The tularemia epizootic subsequently ended, and no cases of human tularemia occurred. In our after-action analysis, we identified several lessons learned: the importance of animal illness surveillance, which can serve as a warning for potential human illness and epidemic; the usefulness of pre-event planning, training, and exercises in facilitating a coordinated response; the usefulness of an effective communication system with the healthcare community; the importance of responders being familiar with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Category A bioterrorism agents when considering a rapid response; and the fact that attempts at environmental control may result in perturbations in animal populations with unintended consequences.

Challenges and obstacles in sharing and coordinating information during multi-agency disaster response: Propositions from field exercises

Although various scholars have researched issues regarding disaster management, few have studied the sharing and coordinating of information during disasters. Not much empirical data is available in this field and there is sparse insight into the factors that may impede or facilitate information sharing and coordination among stakeholders. In this paper, we provide an overview of the relevant obstacles and challenges by examining existing literature and then investigating a series of multi-agency disaster management exercises, using observations and a survey. Although all the people who took part in our study agree that sharing information is important, for the success of their own organization as well as the exercise as a whole, the extent to which information is actually being shared among organizations is often limited by a number of factors that can be attributed to the community, agency and individual level. We found that relief workers are often more concerned with receiving information from others than with providing information to others who may benefit. Incentives for sharing information, understanding each other’s work-processes and the usability of information systems have shown positive effects on information sharing and coordination. The findings of our study have been formulated using six grounded propositions, which can be used by system designers and policy-makers upon validation in further research. We also provide directions for future research.

On Academics: Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Bridging Public Health Academia and Practice

In 2006, the Alabama Department of Public Health, through the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness, sponsored a series of infectious disease outbreak exercises in Alabama’s six hospital planning regions. The six exercises were conducted in rural and metropolitan areas and were designed to be full-scale assessments of multiagency and multijurisdictional responses to an infectious disease outbreak. This article details the lessons learned from the exercises and collaborations of academia with the public health practice and emergency response communities. We provide the results for our qualitative assessment with the hope that this information can identify trends and potential issues applicable to regions and future disasters outside of Alabama. Thus, while these exercises took place in one state, the trends we observed may be generalizable to other locales as well.

Chemical contamination assessment of Gulf of Mexico oysters in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 and caused widespread devastation along the central Gulf Coast states. Less than a month later Hurricane Rita followed a similar track slightly west of Katrina's. A coordinated multi-agency response followed to collect water, sediment and tissue samples for a variety of chemical, biological and toxicological indicators. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Status and Trends Program (NS&T) participated in this effort by measuring chemical contamination in sediment and oyster tissue as part of the Mussel Watch Program, a long-term monitoring program to assess spatial and temporal trends in a wide range of coastal pollutants. This paper describes results for contaminants measured in oyster tissue collected between September 29 and October 10, 2005 and discusses the results in the context of Mussel Watch and its 20-year record of chemical contamination in the region and the nation. In general, levels of metals in oyster tissue were higher then pre- hurricane levels while organic contaminants were at or near record lows. No contaminant reported here exceeded the FDA action level for food safety.

A community-based multi-agency response to school refusal

A community-based multi-agency response to school refusal

Multiagency Coordination and Response: Case Study of the July 2005 London Bombings1

On July 7, 2005, terrorists carried out a series of bombings in London's underground subway system and transportation network. Fifty‐two people were killed and more than 700 were injured. The authors of this study interviewed key staff from London agencies to evaluate the response to the London attacks and analyzed the responses using the General Coordination Model defined in prior research (Eyerman and Strom, 2005). Results indicate that the London coordination regime, which is characterized by a high level of preplanning, joint exercises, and regular improvement through constant use, minimized the effect of common barriers to multiagency response. Successful elements of the London response included the rapid recognition and declaration of a major incident; a successful command and control system that involved all key agencies and which was implemented quickly following the bombings; limited disagreement across agencies on roles and responsibilities; and, delivery of a single, unified media message.

Young people with learning disabilities who sexually harm others: the role of criminal justice within a multi-agency response

This paper outlines the key findings from a recent study of statutory service responses to young people with learning disabilities who show sexually inappropriate or abusive behaviours, with a particular focus on the involvement of criminal justice agencies. The study found that although inappropriate sexual behaviours were commonplace in special schools, and that serious acts of abuse including rape had sometimes occurred, education, welfare and criminal justice agencies struggled to work together effectively. In particular, staff often had difficulty in determining the point at which a sexually inappropriate behaviour warranted intervention. This problem was frequently compounded by a lack of appropriate therapeutic services. In many cases this meant that no intervention was made until the young person committed a sexual offence and the victim reported this to the police. As a consequence, young people with learning disabilities are being registered as sex offenders. The paper concludes by addressing some of the policy and practice implications of the study’s findings, particularly those which relate to criminal justice.

Secure Information Sharing in a Virtual Multi-Agency Team Environment

This paper proposes a two tier RBAC approach for secure and selective information sharing among virtual multi-agency response team (VMART) and allows expansion of the VMART by admitting new collaborators (government agencies or NGOs) as need arise. A coordinator Web Service for each member agency is proposed. The coordinator Web Service is responsible for authentication, information dissemination, information acquisition, role creation and enforcement of predefined access control policies. Secure, selective and fine-grained information sharing is realized through the encryption of XML documents according to RBAC policies defined for the corresponding XML schema.

Interagency Coordination in Response to Terrorism: Promising Practices and Barriers Identified in Four Countries

Our nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to terrorism hinges on multiagency coordination. This study evaluates problems faced by law enforcement and public health agencies in multiagency response situations, drawing on rational choice theory to develop expectations about agencies’ abilities to cooperate on common policy goals. Expectations are evaluated using survey data collected from law enforcement and public health officials in four countries: USA, UK, Canada, and Ireland. Results identifying common barriers and promising practices for improving multiagency response indicate that the rational choice model explains some but not all of the findings on coordination.

Healthcare groups at work: further lessons from research into large-scale coordination

The first special issue in Large-Scale Coordination earlier this year showed the breadth of application research from air traffic control to the military and multi-agency emergency response. This special issue shows depth of research at large scale in healthcare. These studies of large-scale coordination examine work between and across groups, beyond earlier conceptions of social human factors. Revealing the complexity of work domains and the subtle, yet effective, ways that workers negotiate its challenges opens the way to develop information and communications technology support tools that are grounded in a scientific understanding.

Effective Response to Large-Scale Disasters: The Need for High-reliability Preparedness Networks

A continuing preparedness challenge concerns leading, managing, and coordinating multi-agency disaster prevention and response efforts. Effective disaster prevention and response requires a network of preparedness agencies and organizations that functions as a single, high-reliability organization (HRO). High-reliability organizations have been studied extensively; however, the lessons learned in managing HROs have not been systematically applied to the management and operations of multi-agency and private sector organization networks required to respond to large-scale disasters. This paper develops and recommends a leadership and management model for creating and leading high-reliability preparedness networks (HRPNs). The paper demonstrates that the HRPN is key to effectively preparing for and responding to rapid onset disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and mass casualty terrorist events as well as evolving disasters such as infectious disease outbreaks, famines, drought, insect infestations, social system failure, and economic depression.

Bioterrorism with Zoonotic Disease: Public Health Preparedness Lessons from a Multiagency Exercise

Responding to agricultural bioterrorism with pathogenic agents that are communicable from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases) requires effective coordination of many organizations, both inside and outside of government. Action must be simultaneously taken to address public health concerns, respond to the agricultural dimensions of the event, and carry out the necessary law enforcement investigation. As part of a project focused on examining public health preparedness in Georgia, an exercise was carried out in July 2005 examining the intentional introduction of avian influenza (H5N1) in commercial poultry operations. The attack scenario, which was written to occur during an already severe human influenza season, enabled exploration of a range of issues associated with public health preparedness for major disease outbreaks including pandemic influenza, coordination of a multiagency response operation at multiple levels of government, and effective management of interdisciplinary response activities. The exercise is described and broader policy lessons regarding preparedness planning are discussed.

Policing Prostitution

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of vice squads emerged in different locations in England and Wales to respond to the growing public concern about street prostitution. They adopted an essentially enforcement approach which was aimed predominantly at female prostitutes. During the 1990s, however, the nature of police intervention has changed, as they have become increasingly involved in developing multi-agency responses to prostitution. There has also been a significant growth in the last decade of specialist agencies designed to support street prostitutes. This development has produced a changing regulatory framework in which the nature of prostitution and the conception of the female prostitute have been subject to re-examination. In this article, developments in the policing of prostitution over the last decade are reviewed and emerging trends in the regulation of prostitution are identified.

LONG-TERM WILDLIFE OPERATIONS: ADAPTATIONS TO TRADITIONAL INCIDENT COMMAND (OR ICS) STRUCTURE. A CASE STUDY OF THE SS JACOB LUCKENBACH.*

ABSTRACT From 2001–2002, oiled birds were found along 220 miles of California's central coastline, with more than 2,000 birds recovered and transported for care. No significant slicks or other obvious sources of oil were observed. Response activities were coordinated to address a prolonged wildlife event, rather than proceeding as a typical short-term oil spill response. This event was part of a long pattern of repeat “mystery” oil spills in this region that puzzled investigators for 10 years, most believing the oil resulted from illegal dumping; but when the 2001/2002 event extended well beyond the winter season, investigators looked deeper. After an extensive investigation by state and federal agencies, the sunken vessel, SS Jacob Luckenbach was identified. A six month, $19 million, multi-agency response operation was undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard with operations concluding October 2002. To address the 11-month wildlife response for the 2001/2002 season, the Incident Command Structure was modified to address the unique needs of this event, including: activation and deactivation criteria for beach searches; weather prediction for oil release and animal stranding patterns; hybridization of field team functions; changing response priorities for key species; and long-term staffing, communication and coordination among the multiple agencies. Spill-specific policies and protocols were established, and information was made available to remote personnel through a website. On-going staff debriefs were conducted and adjustments implemented. Based on lessons learned, California's Wildlife Operations Plan is being revised and an electronic data collection system is being implemented to streamline animal tracking. Although most response organizations are structured to respond to “batch” spills, with hundreds of aging sunken vessels along the California coast alone and as the continuous release from the TV Prestige demonstrated, organizational modifications may be necessary to adequately prepare for and respond to the more unusual, but potentially growing risk of long-term, intermittent releases in the off-shore environment.