My current job assignment is the Captain of Homeland Security. In the brief time I have worked in this assignment these are some of the areas I identified in which my department could improve to be better prepared to fight terrorism: training for front-line Officers and Supervisors, revising the Terror Liaison Program, education and awareness programs for the community, increasing the assignment time of Captain and Lieutenants, and renewing the partnership with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
October 28th, 2017, I was promoted to Captain, and transferred to the Homeland Security Unit. This is a good thing and a bad thing! My background with the department includes, patrol throughout the twelve-district stations …show more content…
After a brief conversation, I learned he had been part of the Dive Unit. which is part of Homeland Security. I emphasized the importance of needing his full involvement and commitment, so we could work together as a team to improve and update the unit. Thankfully it really didn’t take much convincing to get him on board since I knew he had always been a dedicated hardworking member in the department. I asked him to look into the conditions of our three command vans. I had been told our MEOC - Mobile Emergency Operation Center, had been at the shop for over three months, and the other command vans were downed for various reasons. He investigated the state of the command vans and discovered the following, mechanical issues, computers were not updated and operating, radios were inoperable, and the interior condition of the vehicles was a mess. The various issues with the command vans was unacceptable and needed to be fixed immediately before New Year’s Eve, since the command vans would be utilized for various events occurring in the city. We immediately met with the Homeland Security Sergeant and delegated a time frame to get the vans in operational order. With the command vans and the equipment issue addressed I now focused on obtaining more personnel for the unit. Promotions had just occurred for Captain, Lieutenants, and Sergeant had depleted the unit. Determining what the staffing …show more content…
The department needs to take active role to reach out to establish working relationship with educational institutions throughout the city. Outreach should be a priority starting with the High School students. School resource officers could provide basic awareness training, so children could have some insight and into what the should do if a terrorist act occurred. I would also suggest partnering with other city agencies and outside agencies to conduct symposiums and lectures on terrorism. This type of forum could be utilized to raise awareness of what suspicious activity looks like, and how to report that activity to the police. The department Media Unit needs to develop and implement public awareness campaigns such as radio spots, place advertisement signs on Muni buses, and billboard signage along the underground rail line the Bay Area Rapid Transit System – BART, to provide information to the public in a larger arena where the public could view it. Basically the “see something, say something” campaign, or some other type of