Multi-Agency Emergency Event Paper

Introduction

One of the major incidences involving multi-agency emergency management discussed here is about the shooting incident that happened at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. An active shooter later identified by the police as Omar Mateen entered the club and started shooting upstanding club goers. The incident changed to blockade suspect holding hostages that lasted for several hours (Levin, 2016). This was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on June 12, 2016, in the land of America. Armed with 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and a semi-automatic rifle, the total number of individuals that were shot amounted to One hundred two innocent citizens: 49 killed and 53 injured (Flomenbaum, 2016).

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During this attack, an Orlando Police Department (OPD) operative working at Pulse nightclub responded to the attack and called for assistance while engaging with the shooter. Several hours later, special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team raided the club, launched the response to the agile gunman. They rescued all the surviving hostages and shot Omar Mateen (Levin, 2016). All the decisions taken by women and men of Orlando's law execution agencies and Orlando Police Department (OPD) incorporated strength, professionalism, and bravery of our nation's law implementation and the safety of the public first (Flomenbaum, 2016).

Response by Police and Fire Agencies

An inclusive tactical response strategy that is directed by a coordinated and collaborative unified command and control structure is critical to responding to and resolving complex events involving multiple phases and multiple jurisdictions (Levin, 2016). Both fire agencies and police department followed appropriate unison protocol while responding to the Pulse nightclub emergency, however, better teamwork was necessary and more training are always required to move forward. Response by fire agencies and police department can be described as being one that was unwavering with national best performance and under exceedingly difficult and tense circumstances (Flomenbaum, 2016).

There were so many tactics that were employed by the Orlando Police Department since they had the training to handle natural and man-made major incidents. However, as occurrence become more challenging, multiagency feedback become confused and uncoordinated (Flomenbaum, 2016). This demonstrated the significance of establishing unified control and command and the importance of multiagency coordination systems. During the incidence, SWAT commander was the only tactical lead who led the all the responses inside the club. He was also assuming overall operation within the first one hour as well as deploying all resources and security personnel (Levin, 2016). There was unified coordination, decision and strategy making when the unified command center was established.

Orlando Fire Department (OFD) response was very poor since they were not included in the command center. This forced them to establish their own incident command posts. This later affected coordination, resource and information sharing, and overall incident awareness negatively. Firefighters were assigned to station 5, located in the vicinity of the incident (Flomenbaum, 2016). This station remained locked by the on-duty battalion chief. Orlando Fire Department (OFD) argued that Orlando Police Department was to give safely to enter notice before the firefighters intervened bringing delays (Levin, 2016).

However, Orlando Fire Department responders, working under the command of liberated OFD command post started assigning roles and responsibilities within the OFD. When OFD were given the notice to enter and work outside the club, they helped in the transportation of the victims to trauma centers and hospitals within the town as well as in the triage areas (Flomenbaum, 2016). The general response of all the officers towards the incident was quite slow, this led to death and injuries of many innocent citizens that was facilitated by the gunman (Levin, 2016).

Roles Within the Structured Command

During Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida shooting, Orange County Sheriff's Office response unit, Specialized Orlando Police Department and other specialized response unit carried out different roles to rescue the victims and to eliminate the terrorist (Levin, 2016). District Nine Medical Examiner's Office (MEO) supplied stocks of medical equipment and other medical stuff using the available local resources that helped them during the event. The morgue had a capacity of about one hundred and fifty bodies and has the ability to maintain 20-30 victims. Plenty space of the morgue could, therefore, be used to sustain the response and could still be used for its daily operation. Medical Examiner's Officers further formed plans, implemented media blueprints and commenced plans assisting providing information to the victim's families (Flomenbaum, 2016).

Orlando Regional Medical Center played a very important role in learning of the shooting incident. They assessed all the resources that health centers may need so that all the hospital staff could be supplied with all the required equipment and supplies to respond effectively to the incident. Additionally, Orlando Regional Medical Center executed medical surge plans to grow emergency department scope for all the incoming patients (Flomenbaum, 2016). They further ported more needs and organized with convenient Orlando hospitals to fill gaps. Orange County Emergency Support Function-8 team once notified confirmed that all hospitals were given information and able to admit patients. They further changed the event to mass fatality event, during this process, Orange County Emergency Support Function- 8 ensured that their precedence was to notify all the team members, state and the county. In addition, they were also to ensure that there were adequate personnel (Levin, 2016).

Crisis Response Objectives

Different security department responded to Pulse nightclub shooting with the main aim of establishing Critical Response Technical Assistance to give selected technical assistance to law enforcement Agencies dealing with high-profile events, sensitive issues, or major incidents of varying need (Flomenbaum, 2016). One of the major objectives of the crisis response was to rescue all the victims that were involved in the Pulse nightclub terrorist attack (Levin, 2016). Additionally, another crisis response objective was to eliminate the active shooter who led to the death of 49 individuals and leaving 53 people injured.

Decision-Making Strategies and Challenges Faced by Leaders in Working Through the Event

The attack at Pulse nightclub demonstrated vividly that terrorism and mass public violence could cause massive loss of lives of many individuals and it can occur anytime and anywhere. Exercising leadership needs an awareness of individual, creating the sense of composure and ability to handle urgent situations (Levin, 2016). Additionally, leaders should able to make wise decisions based constant evolving circumstances and information, and volatile situation. Decision-making ability is very vital and its strength is always tried out throughout critical incidents. Through terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub, Orlando Police Department and partner agencies leaders were required to make decisions in a high-stakes, unpredictable environment and urgent situations (Flomenbaum, 2016).

All the decisive and creative actions were needed to resolve the incident that comes up. Orlando Police Department command personnel were needed to make a fast operational decision and split-second tactical that were very effective and could, therefore, put all the victims safe during plan execution (Levin, 2016). John W. Mina, Orlando Police Chief, and other command personnel made effective decisions in response to the myriad challenges that arose during the incident. Despite the situation becoming more complex and more difficult, all the commanding officers made decisions that resulted in rescuing victims who were held hostage (Flomenbaum, 2016).

However, there were diverse challenges that were experienced during the rescue mission in Pulse nightclub attack. There was a very slow methodological process to clear completely the scene since it was an FBI scene (Levin, 2016). Due to this dynamic nature of the incident, this led to the slow execution of all the plans. In addition, there was poor coordination between foreign consulate officers, federal, and state agencies. The proximity of the hospital to the scene was beneficial, however, it did not give enough time for the hospitals to prepare for the incoming patients (Flomenbaum, 2016).

References

Flomenbaum, N. (2016). MCIs and the Orlando Nightclub Shooting. Emergency Medicine, 48(8), 341-341. doi: 10.12788/emed.2016.0051

Levin, A. (2016). Florida Psychiatrists Respond to Orlando Nightclub Shooting. Psychiatric News, 51(13), 1-1. doi: 10.1176/appi.pn.2016.7a23