Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/473011
www.officer.com March 2015 Law Enforcement Technology 21 severely injured victims, to members of the public playing the roles of bewil- dered shoppers that needed to be given direction. Adding to the realism factor, pro- fessional Hollywood makeup artists were on-hand to add apply realistic injuries to some of the role-playing "victims" of the mock terrorism scenario. In real situations of this nature, communications between public safety agencies is crucial. However, communication between first responders functioning on sepa- rate radio networks that cannot be patched often presents a significant challenge. Throughout the training exercise West Covina Police successfully negotiated communications com- patibility issues by incorporating technology available in the mobile command center to solve incom- patible technology issues between agencies. Now thanks to the exer- cise, participating agencies learned to solve potential issues that might arise during an actual incident. They've created valuable protocols to set in motion should a critical incident response be needed in the city and surrounding areas. Mutual aid deployment A short time after the training exercise, tragedy struck a neighboring police department when one of their police officers was involved in an on-duty traffic accident and suffered fatal inju- ries. WCPD responded to the scene of the accident immediately with the MCC, where it was used to coordinate the activities of officers and investiga- tors on-site. While this was not a large scale event like in training, the command center provided an office-like setting with MSRP Style 127 S t l 1 2 7 S t l 1 2 7 $ 34 99 www.desantisholster.com • Built from black-saddle leather • Precise molded contours provide weapon retention • Available for most popular handguns 800-GUNHIDE 631-841-6300 Dept LE35 431 Bayview Ave. Amityville, NY 11701 "we didn't invent concealment, we just perfected it!" • • • Circle 11 on Reader Service Card The mobile command center operated by West Covina (Calif.) Police is fitted to accommodate two specially trained dispatch personnel on-site in the event the MCC is activated.