NCJ Number
171188
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 66 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1997) Pages: 14-17
Date Published
1997
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes use by law enforcement agencies of the Incident Command System (ICS).
Abstract
At one time, public safety agencies tackled emergencies on a case-by-case basis, and ICS was used primarily by fire services. Recently, however, law enforcement officials across the country have come to appreciate the value of a coordinated response to emergencies. Formalized agreements set the stage for integrated communication, centralized staging of resources, and comprehensive management of those resources once deployed; promote understanding and improved response times; and provide a manageable span of control for the incident commander. The Arizona Department of Public Safety uses ICS daily under many different circumstances. Three levels of response dictate what resources to commit to each incident: (1) one or two officers to resolve minor conflicts (traffic incidents, light crowd control); (2) three or more officers, possibly from several agencies across jurisdictional boundaries (collisions resulting in road closures or evacuations); and (3) three or more officers from multiple shifts, support from other agencies and significant effort to contain, control and recover from the emergency (bombings, riots). Figure