Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Programme (JESIP)

FEATURE: With law enforcement playing a vital role in the planning, preparation and response to major disasters, the increasing number of catastrophic weather events – such as the recent devastating flooding in Spain – have highlighted the challenges authorities face in relation to vulnerable victims; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth takes a closer look at the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which identifies those vulnerable groups most at risk, and the steps that need to be taken to address that risk.

FEATURE: Just a year after completing the Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command Course (MAGIC), David Marshall found himself leading the multi-agency response for a significant major incident; here he reflects on the steps he took as Gold Commander, how the MAGIC training and Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles proved vital in shaping and delivering that response, and the lessons learned from the experience.

OPINION: The inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing has highlighted a number of failures in UK emergency services interoperability in responding to the terrorist attack; Psychology Lecturer Dr Nicola Power of the University of Lancaster believes research around the psychology of group decision making can explain some of those failures, and could help to avoid repeat problems in the future.

LONG READ: The emergency services response to the flooding in Australia’s Northern Rivers region, which began in February and remains ongoing, has been subject to close scrutiny and two major independent inquiries; Policing Insight’s Alan Beckley examines some of the key findings and recommendations from the two inquiry reports, and considers their implications for policing in the region.

ANALYSIS: The emergency service response to disasters – whether manmade incidents such as terrorist attacks, or naturally occurring events including weather crises – has been under scrutiny in the UK and globally in recent years; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at a new European disaster analysis model that will be unveiled this week, which aims to increase learning and share best practice with a view to improving future responses.

FEATURE: Ahead of next week’s London Policing College UK Preparedness workshop – the second in a series of workshops organised by the College, leading up to the 3rd International Police Education Conference in November – Stuart Hyde, the former Chief Constable of Cumbria, highlights the importance of the third sector response (including police charities) to COVID-19, and how that will shape the role of the voluntary sector in responding to future emergencies.

FEATURES: As the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury three years ago and other chemical agent attacks have highlighted, the CBRN threat can have a real, traumatic and long-lasting impact; Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports on a new joint European initiative to protect shopping malls – potentially a soft target for terrorists and state-sponsored actors – from CBRN attack.

Feature: As the Inquiry into the 2017 Manchester Arena terror attack continues, there is work behind the scenes to update the Joint Doctrine, the interoperability framework for UK emergency service responders; Carl Daniels of JESIP spoke to Policing Insight’s Catherine Levin about the consultation and how it has never been more important to work together.

OPINION: The COVID-19 crisis has reignited the debate around resilience and emergency preparedness in the UK; police officer and former army reservist Jonny Briggs believes the creation of a Civil Defence Service – a structure which already exists in many other countries – could provide invaluable support for the emergency services in times of crisis and high demand.

INTERVIEW: In the last in the series of articles linked to the Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Policing Insight talks to former senior Met Police officer and crisis management / incident response specialist Roger Gomm – and poses four key questions on police operation and crises – ahead of his workshops on the issue later this week.

FEATURE: COVID-19 has represented a major challenge to the emergency services, but has also led to an acceleration in collaborative working; now a new survey aims to capture and share successful collaborations, as a foundation for future workforce transformation

ANALYSIS: The Whaley Bridge crisis could have been a disaster - but strong communications work by the emergency services helped keep a community together. Dan Slee, co-founder of comms2point0, looks at the social media effort to show where it all went right.

OPINION: Ian Wiggett, CoPaCC Associate and former Greater Manchester Police ACC, casts an expert eye over the Vision published last week by NPCC and APCC, which indicates agreement about the challenges ahead. But will there be sufficient consensus amongst key wider stakeholders to see these challenges addressed?

OPINION: Dave Etheridge, President of the CFOA, says the Chief Fire Officers’ Association will support Police and Crime Commissioners taking responsibility for fire; but there must be a robust local business case made that identifies enhancements to public safety