Public Service

[cockpitbob]

I do very little public service, but what I have done has given me some knowledge and insight that is useful to a prepper.

As a ham volunteer I've provided comms services for the Boston Marathon the last 2 years.  Yup, I started the year after the Marathon bombings.  Today I went to a 4hr training seminar for medical personnel and hams working along the course; as opposed to Start area, Finish area or Transportation (shuttle busses). 

The Boston Marathon is a straight line 26.2 mile course spanning 7 towns.  The logistics for 30,000 runners and several thousand volunteers is staggering.  During my training and volunteering I've learned some things I thought I would share since they relate to prepping on one level or another.

Infrastructure for Disasters:
Especially when they talk about the lessons learned from the 2013 Marathon bombings, I start to get a picture of what we have for police, military, medical and fire.  It is substantial, but woefully inadequate for any large scale disaster or violent event.  Just to support the Marathon they pull resources from pretty far away.  If anything bad happens that affects more than about 0.1% of the population, we will be largely on our own. 

Active Shooter Situations:
Today we got a 1hr presentation from a Srgt in Massachusetts's SWAT.  It was much better than I thought, and he never once said the words I hate so much:  "shelter in place".

Here are some of my key take-aways from his talk:
* Active shooter situations are over in 10-15 minutes.
* The shooters usually end it themselves within minutes of help showing up, or at the first real resistance they encounter.
* Time is your friend. Use/create a buffer zone, relocate, escape, or do anything to delay encountering the shooter.

Strategies changed after the Columbine shooting. When the killing started at Columbine, the cops on scene secured the perimeter and waited for SWAT (standard procedure back then). But, all killing was over in 16 minutes. SWAT showed up about 30 minutes after the killing started. The 2 boys killed themselves about 3 minutes after SWAT showed up. This is how the majority of active shooter situations play out.  The shooters usually aren't ready for a battle.  They've come to die.

After Columbine, the S.O.P. changed to whoever is there when it starts, they should engage right away. Don't wait for SWAT.  It will all be over by the time SWAT arrives.

One other take-away I got regard a bomb scenario (like the 2013 Marathon). When a bomb goes off, don't everyone rush in to help the victims. At most, the minimum medical crew needed to deal with the number of injured should go in.
* If the bad guy knows what he's doing, there will be a 2nd bomb to take out the first responders.
* If everyone is there helping and a 2nd bomb goes off, there's no one left to help them.
* If everyone goes in to help, you have a crowd of people standing around getting in the way and adding confusion. This is what happend 3 years ago.
* The first cops on scene are NOT going to help the wounded, no matter how much they are bleeding. Their job is to make the area safe (get the bad guy, find the other bomb, etc.)

He never addressed the possibility of us being armed, but he spent a lot of time putting responsibility for decisions and actions on us. A couple times he sort of implied that going on the attack was our decision. He explicitly stated that we are responsible for our safety, not the cops.

You never know what you're going to learn in ham radio :)

[NCGunDude]

One of the things we stress at our Ham Public Service events is we're not there to enforce the law. Charity bike rides are one of the types of events we support, and there are other cars on the road in addition to ourselves and the riders. If we see unsafe or illegal actions taken by anyone, it's our responsibility to call 911 to report the incident.

Once the proper personnel have been notified, which is the primary responsibility of emcomms, whether it's medical, fire, law enforcement, or net control, then you can assess the situation and evaluate the appropriate action to take.

Very good information about the Boston Marathon. I usually participate in a handful of ham public service events each year, but none on that scale. It's an opportunity to provide a valuable service to the community and gain practical radio experience.

Was the event run under DHS and NIMS?

[RichardSinFWTX]

State laws and city ordinances will vary; but I'd say that in the lion's share of public service events you will not be permitted to be armed and there's no way in Hell you're going to be allowed to "go on the attack" as you put it.  How will the cops know who the active shooter is and who's the overzealous ham?

[cockpitbob]

State laws and city ordinances will vary; but I'd say that in the lion's share of public service events you will not be permitted to be armed and there's no way in Hell you're going to be allowed to "go on the attack" as you put it.  How will the cops know who the active shooter is and who's the overzealous ham?

The 2 times I've serves at the Boston Marathon were 2014 & 2015 (right after the bombing).  Both years, from wherever I stood, I could see multiple armed law enforcement or military people.  A ham with a bunch of gear is likely to be searched, so I wouldn't carry a gun.  But even if I did carry, I wouldn't consider drawing it unless my life were in immediate danger.  As you point out, there's no way to tell a good guy from bad.  Also, I doubt the military folk get the same "shoot/don't shoot" decision training the police get.

[cockpitbob]

Was the event run under DHS and NIMS?

Nope.  The state of MA runs it.  MEMA (Mass Emergency Management Agency) is involved but I'm not sure who is at the top of the security pyramid. 

[RichardSinFWTX]

The 2 times I've serves at the Boston Marathon were 2014 & 2015 (right after the bombing).  Both years, from wherever I stood, I could see multiple armed law enforcement or military people.  A ham with a bunch of gear is likely to be searched, so I wouldn't carry a gun.  But even if I did carry, I wouldn't consider drawing it unless my life were in immediate danger.  As you point out, there's no way to tell a good guy from bad.  Also, I doubt the military folk get the same "shoot/don't shoot" decision training the police get.

These days with all the operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and such the military does do a fair amount of MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) training.  A lot of that does involve shoot/no-shoot scenarios.

I do see your point.  I'm not going to say if I've ever carried at an event.  I do carry extra first aid and trauma gear.  If push ever comes to shove I plan to disappear into the woodwork until the lead stops flying and the dust has settled.  After that I'll take off my ham hat and put on my combat lifesaver hat.  That's just me though.

[gil]

I have always been on the fence about public service. Certainly the presence of trained individuals at events is a plus, but in most cases cell phones would be quite enough, no need for handheld ham radios. Would you still participate if only cell phones were allowed? It's good to practice radio skills in case cell service is down, but I still think in many cases ham radio is not warranted. Then there is the village wanker with all the patches, orange vest and an attitude to match who would show up at a bicycle race with an AR-15 if they let him. If I haven't participated in any club events it is in part to avoid being associated with people like that.
Don't misunderstand me, I am a big supporter of gun rights and ham radio, but radio clubs scare me, sort of. I think they scare a lot of real emergency officials as well. I was member of a good one in Sarasota, but the public events I still avoided.
What pissed me off was having to pay for classes to provide a free service...
Basically, while there are people genuinely wanting to help, there are far too many with questionable motives. To those I always want to say that their pseudo-uniform looks ridiculous and that they aren't a cop or some secret service radio agent..
In a real emergency ham radio will make all the difference, no doubt. At a local mini marathon, not so much. Only practicing coordinated efforts justifies participation in my opinion. Many clubs need to shape up, weed out the wankers  and provide a real service instead of being a tolerated hindrance.

Anyway, I'm just ranting, must be in a weird mood today ;-)

Gil

[cockpitbob]

Regarding cell phones, radios have a distinct advantage in that everyone hears you.  Phones are point to point.  They do use texting at the Boston Marathon as a back-up, but you need the phone number for everyone you need to communicate with.  The responsibility is on you to get the message to them, as opposed to with radios the responsibility is distributed among the people who should be monitoring the correct frequencies.

When the bombs went off in Boston in 2013 the cell towers immediately overloaded and no one could get through.  My wife and kids were at the Boston Museum of Science at the time, miles away from the bombs, but we couldn't get through.  However, the Marathon's communication backbone (radios) was unaffected.  Good thing too.  They had about 25,000 runners on the course that they were able to stop.  I can only imagine the chaos if the runners kept coming into Boston.  As it was, it was a big logistical challenge.  What do you do with 25,000 nearly naked athletes on a cold April day in Massachusetts?  They chill down and cramp up fast and were miles from their transportation.  Last year I learned that there are buildings designated as rally/evacuation points along the course that we bring the runners to if we have to stop the race.  Only the team leaders of the First Aid and Water Stations know the location of the one near them until the day of the race when they tell their team.

Gil, you're right about the "wankers".  Fortunately, around here most hams are just on the old side and a bit nerdy.  I see very few "radio-tactical" guys.  Hanging with the nerds is a little undignified, but I can learn a lot from them.

My reasons for serving the Marathon are a bit selfish.  It's social.  I get a cool front row seat and an insider's view of the action in a world class event.  I learn about radio communications from some of the very best.  AND, at the end of the day they open up the Red Sox's Fenway Park for an after-party for the volunteers 8)

Later this year there will be a Formula-1 race held in the streets near Boston.  I wonder if they need ham volunteers  ::)

[RichardSinFWTX]

They probably will.  We have NASCAR races a couple times a year at Texas Motor Speedway.  Mostly they're just weather spotters watching for storms coming in so the powers that be can decide whether to evacuate.

I work a few events; the Cowtown Marathon, the Walk to End Alzheimer's and the March of Dimes' Walk for Babies.  I also do storm-spotting for our Emergency Management group.  These events do provide good training in how formal nets operate and how to interact with our served agencies.  Another benefit, albeit self-serving, is that one of the hospitals we work with serves as a point of distribution in the event that there's some sort of epidemic.  Emergency communicators would be among some of the earliest recipients if they're assisting with operations.  There's also the whole helping out your community thing.

[gil]

Good points Bob..

Gil

[Quietguy]

Fortunately, around here most hams are just on the old side and a bit nerdy.  I see very few "radio-tactical" guys.

Same thing for me, Bob.  I haven't been nearly as involved the last couple of years because of some physical problems, but I spent several years as an active volunteer and most of the people problems were the kind you find in any part of civilized society.  The rewards were numerous, not the least of which was gaining familiarity with the local law enforcement structure.  Our organization is not a traditional ARES group, but operates as an auxiliary (ACS - Auxiliary Communications Service) to the county Sheriff's office and members are subject to a background check.  We work with uniformed folks and are authorized to use their equipment on their frequencies during activation.  That made a huge difference in my understanding of what was being heard over the radio.  An additional benefit is being covered by state insurance as a Registered Emergency Worker when activated with a mission number.

Prepper articles usually mention the importance of including a "police scanner" for finding out what is going on.  But few mention how difficult it is to understand the radio traffic if you are not familiar with the structure and operational aspects of your local agencies.  Even though most, if not all, agencies are moving from 10-codes to plain language there is still a lot of confusion if you are not familiar with local structure.  More than once I have been able to turn to a near-by uniform and ask "what does that mean" when some unfamiliar piece of traffic comes over the radio... and they were always happy to tell me.

People who want to find out more about their local area should check out the local emcomm scene.  Just because the club in some other city has a lot of jerks in it doesn't mean your local club is the same.  Maybe I'm just lucky, but our group is comprised of a bunch of good people who have the desire to help their community.  And in return they receive a lot of side benefits - not the least of which is that elusive "insider knowledge".

Wally

[km4mcm]

The plain talk is coming from the NIMS interoperability training. Stemming from 911 and some other incidents.  Now, that said if you're monitoring a plain speech agency and you start hearing more codes or signal(followed by alphanumeric identifier) and you're working an event, one of two things are happening. 1. Somebody has committed a I.D.10-T error(locked keys in a vehicle, damaged a vehicle or misplaced equipment. and they're trying not to let everyone know. Or 2. Something serious is kicking off and they're trying get key tactical personnel placed or enroute quietly.

About misplaced equipment, cops are famous for leaving ticket books, hats, gloves even portable radios on top of a car and drive off.

As far as an active shooter goes, ID rather be tried 12 than carried by 6. If, God forbid, you ever have to use deadly force on a person or persons upon arrival of police offer no resistance. Meaning don't try explaining anything off the bat. Hands up. if you haven't dropped the weapon yet and can do so with one hand drop your mag and drop the gun. Don't wait for them to tell them you just do it.

They will treat you like a offender initially, grin an bare it. They are trying to secure the scene.

Now if you're operating as a ham and crap kicks off, you communicated informational details would of the most importance.

So weight heavily and quickly the tools you have at you disposal and how can you be of greatest benefit to the situational awareness of responders.
In an event scenario the event HQ or CP would usually be the first Command and control with it moving closer to incident later depending area covered by the event.

Also in large events, don't assume no uniform means civilian/offender off the bat either. More times than not there will a large contengent of plain clothes officers in the crowd.

If you field comms kit has image transmission capabilities, keep that in mind if a situation transforms from active to hostage. Someone may have video or stills that could transmitted if cell towers or clogged and hand delivery is not ideal given environmental or tactical factors.

Sorry for the novel. I just felt i would add my two cents based on my experience.





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[cockpitbob]

KM4MCM, nice post.  Thanks for the insights.

[RadioRay]

Public service - yes, for many reasons. 

However,  this sort of thing gives me gas...

[gil]

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