1. Thank you to the 2015 Virginia Emergency Management Symposium Sponsors

2. Remaining Vigilant Bridging the Gap Between Awareness and Readiness Captain Bonnie Regan, Arlington County OEM Captain Adrienne Quigley, Arlington County OEM

3. What is Situational Awareness? Being aware of what is happening in order to understand how information, events, and actions will impact immediate and near future objectives.

4. OODA Loop

5. Situational Awareness Cycle Incident/ Event InfoAnalysisNotificationsMonitoring Information Analysis Notifications Monitoring

6. Identifying Pertinent and Important Information Key to success is the ability to: Understand what the information means Know how the information impacts your community Disseminate internal and external notifications in a timely manner Use the information for operational planning

7. Organization of Arlington County OEM Office of Emergency Management Emergency Management OEM Duty Officer Communications 9-1-1 Call Takers and Supervisors

8. What were the problems Receiving timely and accurate information Sharing accurate information in a timely manner Difficulty scanning for resources and information during non- business hours Inability to sift through the information from disparate locations to prioritize responses

9. Goal for Arlington County Develop a 24/7 capability to maintain and/or enhance situational awareness with existing resources. How did we do it? Created the Watch Officer Program Staffed positions internally from existing positions Took advantage of existing skill sets Leadership support

10. Watch Officer Program Structure Staffing 4 full-time positions 1 supervisor Daily coverage from 0700 hours to 0300 hours Duties Monitor police and fire calls for service Monitor regional warning systems Send out Notifications of Relevant Information Manage Everbridge Alerting System Maintains Emergency Call Lists and COOPs Provide Sit Reps on ongoing incidents

11. Dispatchers as Watch Officers Advantages Existing knowledge of systems and jurisdictions Ability to assist dispatch operations when needed 9-1-1 calls Teletype operations Floor supervision Challenges Classifying the new positions Staffing Funding Cultural shift to take risks

12. Additional Challenges Funding Serving two very different public safety cultures Public versus Internal Notifications Training Gaining trust and buy-in from Public Safety Partners

13. How has it Worked

14. What Is Needed For A Successful Program Leadership Support Funding Clear Expectations of the Program Staff Support Teamwork Flexibility PATIENCE

15. Remaining Vigilant Questions? Adrienne Quigley - aquigley@arlingtonva.usaquigley@arlingtonva.us Bonnie Regan -bregan@arlingtonva.usbregan@arlingtonva.us