Critical Incident Management

Course Description

This course provides an overview of the critical incident management process, covering a variety of events that impact justice and security organizations. This course will discuss planning, prevention, response, and post-incident management, as well as interagency coordination.

Topics and Objectives

Defining a Critical Incident

• Describe the different types of critical incidents (such as accidents, crimes in progress, natural disasters, and terrorist acts)
• Identify and describe the objectives and benefits of a coordinated critical incident response
• Review examples of critical incidents
• Analyze and critique the positive and negative outcomes of critical incident responses

Critical Incident Prevention

• Identify resources available from the public (local, state, and federal government) and private sectors
• Identify best practices for the prevention of critical incidents
• Prioritize incidents according to the ability to control them
• Categorize critical incidents in terms of probable occurrence
• Assess types of situations and determine a response, with appropriate resources
• Review the application of risk assessment techniques to the prevention of critical incidents

Planning and Preparedness

• Define the types of inter-agency agreements that should be put into place (such as Memorandums of Understanding and Joint Powers of Agreement) in order to facilitate cooperation
• Prepare action and operational plans for response to a critical incident
• Create an incident command structure
• Identify specific personnel for each role and provide scenario based training

Response Readiness

• Evaluate resources and logistical readiness for plan execution
• Measure staff readiness for critical incident response
• Assess training adequacy to ensure staff readiness
• Identify and carry out necessary maintenance and improvements to ensure logistical efficacy

Critical Incident Response Execution

• Execute a simulated response to a defined critical incident scenario
• Explore differences in response for alternate scenarios
• Develop necessary adaptation in the response based on changes in the critical incident during execution

After-Action Review of a Critical Incident Response

• Evaluate the effectiveness of the command structure, communication, resource deployment, and logistics
• Discuss the chaos factor involved with major incidents
• Describe how the results of an after-action review are implemented to improve future critical incident management

Influence of Public Opinion and Special Interest Groups on Public Safety and Civil Rights

• Discuss how the development of "mass media" has changed the security and public safety working environment
• Evaluate the death penalty in terms of public safety vs. civil rights
• Debate the issues and controversies relating to gun control
• Distinguish between public opinion as an expression of what the democratic body politic desires and special interest groups that represent a vocal minority
• Analyze public safety as it relates to hate crimes
• Weigh the value and consequences of pursuit driving

Official Behavior in the Criminal Justice System

• Evaluate the discretionary authority of police, court officers, and correctional personnel
• Examine stress, aggression, social isolation, and attitudes toward the general public among criminal justice personnel
• Identify legal parameters affecting policing and correctional models in the 21st century
• Weigh the issues of liability, accountability, and economic impact within the criminal justice system
• Critique the value and ramifications of the concept of civilian oversight of criminal justice operations
• Explore the requirements for non-medical security and justice personnel concerning privacy and confidentiality rights as set forth in the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Roles of Criminal Justice Personnel and Private Security

• Compare and contrast the roles and objectives of public police and private security
• Evaluate legal, ethical, management, and economic issues related to public and private corrections systems
• Identify the contemporary security issues associated with schools, workplaces, churches, businesses, entertainment establishments, and sports facilities and discuss how protection can be provided effectively from a legal standpoint
• Explore the effect of jurisdictional limitations on public and private agencies and design operational methodologies for overcoming barriers to achieving optimum effectiveness
• Hypothesize about future roles of public enforcement, court, and correctional agencies along with "privatized security" agencies over the next 25 years