San Francisco Police Department- Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT)

Hello, I am a recently retired member of the San Francisco Police Department, now working in a civilian capacity as the Program Coordinator for the Department's new Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT). The ALERT Program will recruit, train, uniform, and credential civilian volunteers to assist law enforcement after a disaster. The "disaster" could be an earthquake, a terroist strike, or anything in-between. I am charged with building this program from the ground, up, taking it from concept to functional entity. We will soon begin the process of recruiting volunteers.

At this time, there are two area which I am looking for some guidance with: communication, and deployment strategy. Specifically, I am trying to find the most reasonable, efficient, and reliable method for two-way communciation to a Command Post. I envision the need for our volunteers to be able to send and receive information from a liaison officer at a police command post. Some ideas are HAM radio, email, text messaging, and AlertID (www.alertid.com).

The other issue presenting itself is personnel staging during an actual deployment. In other words, in a city of the size and makeup of San Francisco, should our volunteers be sent to pre-designated locations strategically located across the City, or does it make more sense to have them gather at one specific location (initially), and be deployed from there?

Any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Mark Hernandez

Coordinator

SFPD ALERT Program

Thanks for posting Mark,

-Lauren Modeen