To help protect Indiana residents from terrorist attacks andevents such as chemical spills, several stage agencies arecollaborating their efforts with Indiana districts to develop moreeffective homeland security plans.
Indiana's 10 homeland security districts were introduced Mondaynight in a meeting with officials from the IndianaCounter-Terrorism and Security Council, the Indiana StateDepartment of Health and the Indiana State Emergency ManagementAgency. The 10 districts will assist state and local government indeveloping homeland security plans.
"The most important thing we want to communicate is the newconcept of how we must work together to make sure homeland securityneeds and expectations are met so Hoosiers can experience a safe,enjoyable lifestyle," Earl Morgan, CTASC director, said.
Monday's meeting was the fifth of 10 statewide meetings, one ineach of the homeland security districts. Muncie is located in thesixth district, which comprises Delaware County and 12 surroundingcounties.
Lester Miller, deputy director for homeland security of SEMA,said collaborative homeland security district planning issignificant because it will encourage groups such as the regionalhazardous material teams and bomb teams to work together, improvingsafety and minimizing the duplication of resources.
"We'll be able to do coordinated planning to make sure thecitizens of this district have the maximum amount of protectionfrom terrorist attacks," Miller said. "Through this coordinatedplanning, Hoosiers are going to be safer."
Miller said Indiana will unfortunately experience a cut in thefunds that have generally gone toward supplying personal equipmentfor bomb squads and other groups. The House of Representatives hasproposed a cut of $8.5 million, while the Senate has proposed a cutof $17 million, he said.
"Working together allows the stretching of scarcer resources,"Morgan said. "That's going to be more of the norm as we moveforward."
Michael Hurst, director of Public Health Preparedness andEmergency Response, said while many teams do work together whenthey know they have to, promoting a regular partnership is key.
"Nothing is broken, but we need to talk to each other more,"Hurst said. "We need to come together in this warm big fuzzy hug.This is the first time we'll work together in terms of a continualcoordinated, choreographed, concentrated effort to talk aboutcommon issues and drop that down to a local level."
Morgan said several key concepts for homeland security districtcouncils are to provide input to state agencies, localjurisdictions and adjacent districts, to promote district-wideassessment of needs and capabilities and to promote district-widecoordination for grants, resources and exercises.
One of the evolving models for the new collaborative effortinvolves placing the CTASC as the state coordinating entity, or theumbrella organization. Below it would be the homeland securitydistrict planning councils, which will have an executive committee.This would then be broken down into preparedness, mitigation,response and recovery subcommittees.
Membership would include all disciplines such as campussecurity, local law enforcement, local health departments, mentalhealth centers, fire departments, hazard material units and localelected officials. While membership size will vary, it willtypically consist of 30 to 50 representatives that would be part ofplanning and policy-making processes.
Morgan said only by working together collectively andincorporating all entities in Indiana will the state make progressin ensuring greater safety for its residents.
"If we don't have good plans it will be obvious to everyonewe're not working as we should," Morgan said. "This is the waywe've got to go to make sure all 6 million people in Indiana areprotected in a first-class way in our home security efforts."
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