Public Safety in an Unsafe World
By Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic
WHO CONTINUES to manage the front lines of homeland defense in the war on terrorism? Even two years after the horrifying attacks of September 11, 2001, on American targets, it is the mayor of each city who is first responsible when disaster strikes in a community, together with the firefighters, police, and municipal health officials who serve local residents.
This was made clear at a meeting of the International Mayors Association in June 2003 in Denver, Colorado. Whether it is Boston or Barcelona; Chicago or Quito, Ecuador; Dallas or Dalseo-gu, Korea-the story is the same: each mayor at that conference manages a well-trained, well-prepared force to fight terrorism. In larger cities, there are specially trained forces to perform rescues in skyscrapers and in deep mines; they have the expertise to manage chemical and biological threats and they are the first on the scene to handle a suspicious parcel standing alone in a public building. In the U.S., large cities share this expertise regularly with urban neighbors to create a safety net of preparedness enveloping American cities and states.
As president-elect of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) and as a member of the recently formed USCM task force on homeland security, I have worked with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. This national web against terrorism on the federal level is only as strong as the cities that make up the network of preparedness. And the financial burden rests mainly on municipalities with their local taxes, not direct financial assistance from the federal government, with the exception of a few, high-profile, high-threat targets which will attract federal support.
In my city of Akron, Ohio, for example, we are spending roughly $35,000 more each week than we did prior to September 11 to further secure our community. Secretary Ridge has encouraged public officials to act regionally and cooperate with surrounding communities in this mission. In Ohio, for instance, the mayors of the five biggest cities have reached a cooperative agreement of mutual aid and assistance in the event of a tragedy.
Preparing Akron
The job of mayor of an American city has changed tremendously over time. It now entails a good deal of planning for situations we all hope will never come to pass. Akron actually began this process years before the events of September 2001. Well before then, the city prepared an evacuation plan and conducted exercises anticipating various scenarios that would involve weapons of mass destruction.
These disaster training drills have taken on an even more serious tone since September 11, 2001. Last October, Akron joined with its county and surrounding suburban cities to conduct a "Full-Scale Chemical Weapons Exercise." It forced firefighters arriving at the scene of a mock-explosion to deal with an unknown agent. It required police officers to think through the possibilities that the perpetrators were still hiding somewhere in the vicinity; and it required everyone to manage the real threat of a secondary explosion aimed pointedly at the very first responders arriving to help the injured. Hospitals had to set-up emergency triage centers, with an increased degree of awareness that the injured bodies they were tending to might harbor the risk of contaminating them. The emergency forces of the entire city and its suburban area had to be marshaled to re-direct traffic, communicate the threat to the public in a credible manner, and, most importantly, learn where we faltered in order to perform better in case the threat returned. To date, it remains one of the largest disaster training exercises ever conducted in the United States.
We are also aware of the vulnerability we face as a supplier of water to nearly a half-million residents, and we have completed a security audit of our water facilities and taken steps to secure water-treatment and watershed properties, municipal buildings and the municipal airport.
Preparing on a National Scale
There are limitations, largely related to funding, on what we can do in the future. However, Congress has approved appropriations for the coming year for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The House of Representatives bill includes $4.4 thousand-million for first-responder programs, and the Senate bill includes $3.8 thousand-million. Also included in the House and Senate bills is funding for firefighting, port security, and law enforcement personnel and bomb-detection equipment at airports. Both the House and Senate bills also include significant funding for high-threat areas, but both bills' funding levels are still below the amount provided in 2003. The U.S. Conference of Mayors was able to improve the current legislation in Congress by targeting increased aid to high-threat areas.
With $46 million set aside for the state of Ohio-$40 million for first responders and another $6 million for infrastructure-cities can buy specialized emergency response and terrorism prevention equipment, and design, develop and conduct anti-terrorism exercises.
The Council on Foreign Relations and other organizations have discussed the need for more substantial funding for homeland security issues. The council's recent report, Emergency Responders: Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared, suggests that funding will ultimately have to reach $98.4 thousand-million over five years just to bring first responders to minimum standards of preparedness.
The Council has also advocated establishing a multi-year Department of Homeland Security grant process. This would reward cities for investing in long-term strategic plans and personnel, and the formation of regional partnerships that would make effective use of shared first-responder equipment. The grant process would also implement national standards for first-responder equipment and training.
Potential Risks
Aside from what would be considered obvious targets in American cities-landmarks, monuments, etc.-U.S. citizens are also concerned with other areas that pose potential risks to security and public safety, such as the contamination of the country's water supply or the threat of smallpox.
In November 2002, as then-chairman of the USCM Advisory Board, I participated in a phone conference with other mayors and Dr. Jerome Hauer, assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Hauer told us that the states were asked as a part of their submission to the federal government's plan for homeland security, to break their smallpox vaccine recipient list into two groups-those at greatest occupational risk and first responders. Individuals under greatest occupational risk include health care personnel and public health response team members. The second group would include other local first responders, such as fire and police personnel.
All mayors manage a unique force of first responders-the people who are the ones running into buildings when everyone else is running out! Those of us who have never been in a position to have to do this have no idea what it must feel like. The reality of terrorism has given us a renewed respect for the people who devote their lives to what we now call homeland security.
In response to a question on the current role of local officials in securing the nation's cities, Secretary Ridge said, "In the post-9/11 world, mayors, county managers, police and fire chiefs have not waited for the federal government to act on homeland security. They have done it with their own initiative and their own money."
As local officials, it is our hope that through our own efforts and resources, along with continued fiscal support from the federal government, we can increase the security we provide our citizenry. This heightened sense we have for the safety and security of our communities is vitally important. But it must be said, that even with the tightest security, it is not possible to deter, impede or halt every possible threat. Citizens must remain aware and vigilant. It is also imperative that all levels of government cooperate in formulating a plan that offers the greatest protection for us all.
Donald L. Plusquellic is the current mayor of Akron, Ohio, and was recently elected president of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM).
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.