NCJ Number
209674
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 72 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2005 Pages: 22,24,28
Date Published
April 2005
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the actions taken and the lessons learned by the Toronto Police Service (Canada) in response to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
Abstract
On March 26, 2003, the premier of Ontario issued a provincial declaration of emergency in accordance with the provincial Emergency Management Act. This was occasioned by 25 reported cases of SARS, a severe and virulent form of pneumonia transmitted from face-to-face contact with an infected person. Upon issuance of the declaration, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) activated its Police Command Center (PCC) as part of its Emergency Preparedness Plan. During the height of the SARS emergency (several weeks), the PCC operated 24 hours a day 7 days a week to deal with threats to the TPS and its members; to support field units in the maintenance of normal police operations; and to acquire and disseminate information about the crisis and appropriate responses to it. Key players in the PCC operation were a police incident manager, a police incident specialist and liaison officer, a public information officer, communication operators, the planning staff, and logistics staff. This article includes descriptions of TPS enforcement actions related to the SARS outbreak, the role for volunteers, the police role at hospitals, and the impact of the SARS outbreak on TPS personnel. Although the TPS was praised for its performance during the outbreak, lessons for future improvements were identified in the areas of training about communicable diseases and the legislation associated with health crises, managerial training in incident management, pandemic disease planning, case tracking, communication, the command center, staffing, emergency preparedness plans, interagency cooperation, and resources and equipment.