More Security Theater on the MBTA

[alexxkay]

Last night, on my ride home, I saw a bunch of postings up at the T sites, saying that there will be busing along part of the Red Line this Sunday morning, due to something I think they called an "Emergency Preparedness Exercise". I gather they're going to simulate some sort of emergency, and see how well various agencies respond. [irony]Because emergencies so often happen with 4 days warning, on a predictable schedule, and at a time when the system is relatively empty. Whether it's terrorists, medical emergencies, or mechanical failures, you can always expect them to happen when the system is at its least loaded, yep.[/irony]

It seems to me that this exercise is going to cost a lot of money and attention, and there is only one outcome which would actually be helpful. If this exercise shows that the agencies in question *can't* respond to a softball exercise like this, then we will have learned something important. But if they do a good job under these contrived circumstances, that gives us absolutely no assurance about their ability to deal with an *actual* emergency, unplanned, under a rush hour load. Whose bright idea was this, anyways?

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Would you rather they didn't practice at all, or did so in way that completely fucks with everyone's commute with no warning? Can you imagine the bitching that would ensue?

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Would you rather they ... did so in way that completely fucks with everyone's commute with no warning?

Yes. Real emergencies do that. It happens a few times a year in a small way already. And it would be a real test, from which they might learn some actually useful information. Either they would find ways to improve (very likely), or they would gain significant confidence in their ability to respond to a real threat (doubtful, but still a very positive outcome).

Can you imagine the bitching that would ensue?

Yes. That's not sufficient reason to do a half-assed job.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps you misunderstand the point of the exercise.

You remember back in grade school, they had fire drills. Was the purpose of the drill to prove you could get out in case of a fire or emergency? No. It wasn't a test that you would pass or fail. It was a practice. Softball practice is still something the people involved can learn from.

And consider exactly how much love they'd get from the people of the city if they tried to practice hardball.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

In my various schools, they didn't tell the kids about the fire drills in advance. I don't know whether or not they told the teachers and administrators. I hope they avoided it as much as possible, but I don't honestly know.

Softball practice is still something the people involved can learn from.

I'm just concerned that they won't learn nearly enough.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Having worked as a substitute teacher - yes, they informed us when there was going to be a drill. Or, I should say, the only drills I experienced were announced to me.

I'm just concerned that they won't learn nearly enough.

That may be, but while you might be accepting of more thorough practice, the public is not. If we take as a given that full-scale surprise runs are not available, then we are debating having something over having nothing.

And let's not kid ourselves - full-scale surprise exercises are expensive. They disrupt the entire city. Millions of dollars, and possible lives lost. Yes, lives lost - any major traffic obstruction that could delay emergency vehicles risks loss of life unrelated to the exercise.

How much is the city (not just the government, but the businesses and people) willing to pay to run exercises? Not much - the city took a whole lot of flack for the lite-brite bomb scares, never mind that it was an excellent exercise.

While the threat was misidentified to start with, from what I have seen subsequently, the system on the street (closing streets, redirecting traffic, and the other emergency management) otherwise worked well - when the people enacting it thought it might be real!

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Another good point but unfortunately, not enough FAMILIES do drills at home. Every night, the Red Cross has Disaster Service volunteers reporting to house fires for families who are displaced, have no immediate place to go, (ie nearby friends or family to stay with) nor ability to get food or clothing.

Sometimes I dispatch what we call "Disaster Action Teams" to fires between 4:30pm and 8:30am the next morning - the colder the night the more the risk of fires it seems. Every Sat I standby to activate the Debit Cards we give families to purchase food and clothing, (certain, standard & specified amounts for each). Activators are offsite for "separation of powers".

Anyway, families need to have a disaster action plan not just for fires but for if they're in separate places when a disaster occurs - various places to meet up, various ways to communicate etc. And drills need to happen. The Red Cross has classes for families but sometimes I really wonder how many people actually pay attention.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Another good point but unfortunately, not enough FAMILIES do drills at home.

I have to agree - I don't know the last time when I saw or heard of a family doing so much as a personal fire drill.

But we should note that dealing with anything larger than a personal emergency cogently requires some knowledge of what the community around you will do. As far as i can tell, Boston's emergency plans are not what we'd call solid enough to try to communicate to the public.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

while you might be accepting of more thorough practice, the public is not

I suppose what gripes me here is the double standard. Politicians are perfectly happy to whip up a climate of fear in their rhetoric, but they aren't willing to *act* in an effectual manner, lest it inconvenience their constituency.

If we take as a given that full-scale surprise runs are not available, then we are debating having something over having nothing.

I really don't want to take that as a given. But I will (grudgingly) agree that something is better than nothing here.

Not much - the city took a whole lot of flack for the lite-brite bomb scares, never mind that it was an excellent exercise.

I think that's a serious oversimplification. The city government *took* flack largely about its attitude. They *generated* flack because the affair made them look silly. But since part of today's political climate is to never admit weakness in any form, including silliness, the cost was made out to be the primary issue and artificially inflated.

I agree with you that the system on the street worked well. It was the media and governmental responses that got silly.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Politicians are perfectly happy to whip up a climate of fear in their rhetoric, but they aren't willing to *act* in an effectual manner, lest it inconvenience their constituency.

To be fair, I have seen no signs that the constituency has any tolerance for inconvenience at all. "Civic duty" isn't exactly a buzzphrase these days.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I agree this is pointless. Consider: they can't have a surprise emergency rehearsal. Business would be disrupted, people would be delayed, chaos would ensue. Politicians would subsequently be voted out of office. :) But lots of other agencies do the same kind of thing - the Army, for example, does war games. Everyone knows the war games are coming, and moreover, everyone knows that nobody's actually going to be shot or blown up or what have you in the war game. Nonetheless, the solidiers and the commanders learn from the exercise, and apply those lessons in real combat situations.

I'm reading a book right now called "How to Make War" - it's very interesting, I recommend it. If I were to take away one thing from it, though, it would be this concept: that experience is perishable, and combat experience is highly perishable. I think that giving emergency responders experience at acting in an emergency, even it's a highly contrived and schedule emergency, is going to improve their performance in a real emergency.

:)

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I think that giving emergency responders experience at acting in an emergency, even it's a highly contrived and schedule emergency, is going to improve their performance in a real emergency.

Improve, yes. But not, I think, to a point that is acceptable.

A lot of my thinking here is based on reading detailed reports of what went on in various Air Traffic Control rooms and National Defense Centers on 9/11. For way too long, everyone thought that a drill scheduled for somewhat later had somehow started early. Realization that it wasn't a drill left a lot of them paralyzed and panicked. Lots of things that were supposed to happen as part of contingency plans didn't, because they weren't actually in a state of constant readiness outside of scheduled drills. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, police and firemen reacted well because their jobs normally exposed them to plenty of actual emergencies; this one was different in scope, but their basic skills were well practiced. But those whose jobs didn't give them that sort of regular exercise outside of scheduled drills reacted overwhelmingly poorly.

Ever since then, I've been pretty strongly opposed to announcing drills in advance. As far as I can tell, what it mostly accomplishes is a false sense of security and readiness, one that isn't actually borne out under stress conditions.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that unannounced drills fix the problem you're concerned with, though. You're comparing air traffic controllers (who thought it was a drill for too long, and could conceivably think that whether they knew a drill was coming or not) to police and fire fighters (whose jobs regularly expose them to real life-and-death emergencies).

I do see your point - a surprise drill does come closer to simulating a real emergency than a scheduled drill - but it's still a pretty far cry off. And the logistics of scheduling a surprise drill on a large or city-wide scale are pretty daunting, especially when you consider that you'd have to keep doing it every so often to keep everyone fresh and make sure any new problems hadn't cropped up. Not to mention the fact that you run the risk of creating or aggravating real emergencies by disrupting the emergency response system with the drill.

I'm just not sure that the benefit of making a drill a surprise outweighs the economic and social cost of that drill. That doesn't mean I've got a better solution, mind you. :) Perhaps smaller drills on a surprise basis, larger drills on a scheduled basis? I don't know.

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

I think rufina does make a valid point. I would be very scared if they never did any drills at all. I'm heavily involved as a Disaster Services Volunteer for the American Red Cross of Mass Bay (http://www.bostonredcross.org) and have participated in two drills. One was a decontamination drill when Mass General was testing out their decon tent and giving experience to several local firefighters and emergency personnel, and the second was a much larger simulated terrorist attack at the Cambridgeside Galleria.

I was very disappointed with the latter because I spent an inordinate amount of time lying moulaged on my back with a flail section (protruding broken rib), while all sorts of folks were removed. I could have easily survived. After they FINALLY got me on a stretcher, I lay outside the building for almost an hour. I really care less about my discomfort and more about the fact that I "died" when I didn't have to. Firemen weren't making any effort to hurriedly evacuate people....it seemed like they were taking their time.

There's still a lot of work to be done coordinating between police departments and emergency services at the local and regional level. Even when there's a drill - it doesn't work with flying colors.

The Red Cross, on the other hand, we're not doing too shabbily.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I'm heavily involved as a Disaster Services Volunteer for the American Red Cross of Mass Bay and have participated in two drills. ... The Red Cross, on the other hand, we're not doing too shabbily.

Thank you, both for doing the work and letting me know about it. Hearing about Good Works helps when I'm grumpy :)