Hodgson Joins Emergency Response Network Initiative Group
WASHINGTON, Feb. 06–Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has joined in a national effort to develop better communication and integration of technology at the local, state and federal levels to cope with biological or chemical warfare disasters in the 50 states.
Hodgson, who has been criticized at home for his views and policies on prison reform, has joined the Emergency Response Network Initiative (ERNI), established last week under Defense Department auspices.
The new group, which includes officials at all levels of government and has no independent budget, will be working to develop a mobile facility that is intended to serve as a communications device for rescue workers.
In a joint effort with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Col. Fenton “Dutch” Thomas, the Defense Department’s liaison officer to FEMA, ERNI was set up on the assumption that the people who respond first to a disaster–police officers, firemen, medical personnel – need a way to communicate with each other at all agency levels.
The emphasis is on ways to share information via computers, radio and television during and immediately after a biological or similar attack.
“This critical information, such as a national checklist for biological chemical information and the exploration of technology to integrate in our state systems, will present a true unified response to any and all terrorist situations, domestic and national,” Hodgson said in an interview.
“From a national level, we looked at the inventory and asked what’s out there and what do we need to come up with the best solutions to minimize chaos and confusion in a life-threatening event,” Hodgson said.
The idea of establishing emergency response units around the country was originated about three years ago in San Diego during discussions about how to improve the application of technology to civil disaster, according to Steve Murray, a government civil servant at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego.
“We’ve recently been dealing with the National Guard and FEMA because those are the people primarily responsible in a civil emergency or disaster,” Murray said. “There are fairly strict rules about what the military can and can’t do in the civil sector, and their importance escalates depending on scale.”
The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the National Guard are two of the leaders of ERNI team, he said, but ERNI, he added, is “a loose confederation at this point because it’s fluid and everything is up in the air.”
“The goal of ERNI is to form a network of federal agencies that can speak to White House homeland security chief Tom Ridge with a common voice,” Murray said. “The biggest issue is communication. Everyone has the same idea, and this is one idea that can turn it in to reality. No one would regret better integration or operability, or better communication in Washington.”
Hodgson, meanwhile, has joined with four police chiefs in the area to design and implement a mobile resource center that will aid in providing medical, technological and chemical security to all personnel at the scene of a terrorist crime.
“Homeland security is about protecting our neighborhoods wherever they are, regardless of whether it is a national threat or a local threat,” Hodgson said.
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
