FA-142 / February 1994 Report of the Joint Fire/Police Task Force on CIVIL UNREST Recommendations for Organization and Operations During Civil Disturbance FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY United States Fire Administration This document was scanned from hard copy to portable document format (PDF) and edited to 99.5% accuracy. Some formatting errors not detected during the optical character recognition process may appear. Report of the Joint Fire/Police Task Force on CIVIL UNREST Recommendations for Organization and Operations During Civil Disturbance PREFACE Concerned about the possible escalation in the incidents of riots and other forms of civil unrest and about the ability of firefighters to deal effectively with such situations in the context of the 1990s, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), assembled a task force in June 1992 of the nation’s leading fire chiefs, who were later joined by their police counterparts. The newly formed Task Force on Civil Unrest convened a series of meetings over the next seven months to analyze the April 1992 Los Angeles civil disorders and to share what proved to be valuable experiences in dealing with civil unrest, from the viewpoints of both fire and police agencies. The Task Force was successful in reaching its goal-to formulate a plan of joint action to combat civil unrest in the U.S. today. A “lessons learned” report, the document which follows was prepared in anticipation of future civil unrest occurrences nationwide. History was made at these meetings as policies and procedures to combat civil unrest were consolidated and refined to meet the needs of today’s society. We at the USFA are extremely pleased that for the first time in recent memory, police and fire executives were able to sit and work together, to voice their concerns and wishes, and to come to a basic agreement on how their personnel can best cooperate in the field. It is anticipated that numerous lives will be saved through the joint efforts of this distinguished and influential panel of police and fire executives who gathered and worked harmoniously. The dynamics of these meetings, from the inception of the Task Force in June 1992 in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to the culmination in a successful team effort offering solutions to address future civil unrest problems in January 1993 in Denver, Colorado, have made this a remarkable and historic experience for the USFA. Whenever a community needs help, it (more often than not) calls on its fire and/or police services. Our communities will benefit as a result of the findings of the Task Force on Civil Unrest, and our country will become better able to combat civil disturbances and maintain national peace. We are grateful to the Task Force members for their exemplary efforts in improving the ability of fire and police personnel to work together and better serve communities throughout the nation. iii TASK FORCE ON CIVIL UNREST FIRE CHIEFS Rayfield Alfred George George Chief (Ret.), District of Columbia Fire Department Assistant Chief (Ret.), San Diego Fire Department Washington, D.C. San Diego, California Donald Anthony Richard Gonzales Chief, Denver Fire Department Deputy Chief, Los Angeles Fire Department Los Angeles, California Denver, Colorado William Austin Claude Harris Chief, Tampa Fire Department Chief (Ret.), Seattle Fire Department Tampa, Florida Seattle, Washington David Chamberlin Chris A. Hunter Chief, Long Beach Fire Department Chief, Atlanta Fire Department Atlanta, Georgia Long Beach, California Michael E. Dalton Donald O. Manning Chief, Los Angeles City Fire Department Deputy Chief, Baltimore City Fire Department Los Angeles, California Baltimore, Maryland Harry Diezel George Monogue Chief, City of Virginia Beach Fire Department Chief, Portland Fire Department Virginia Beach, Virginia Portland, Oregon Co1. Duke Frederick F. Postel Chief (Ret.), City of Miami Fire/Rescue Chief (Ret.), San Francisco Fire Department Department Novato, California Miami, Florida Neil Svetanics Chief, St. Louis Fire Department Gary Easton Chief, San Diego Fire Department St. Louis, Missouri San Diego, California Clell West Chief, Las Vegas Fire Department Michael Freeman Las Vegas, Nevada Chief, Los Angeles County Fire Department Los Angeles, California V POLICE CHIEFS Phillip Arreola Stephen Jeffries Chief, Milwaukee Police Department Deputy Chief, Denver Police Department Milwaukee, Wisconsin Denver, Colorado Eldrin A. Bell Curtis Lane Chief, Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief, Tampa Police Department Atlanta, Georgia Tampa, Florida Raymond Burkart Thomas Maloney, Superintendent Deputy Chief, New Orleans Police Department Chief, Bureau of Field Services New Orleans, Louisiana Boston Police Department Boston, Massachusetts Dean DeJong Major, Miami Police Department Raul Martinez Miami, Florida Assistant Chief, Miami Police Department Miami, Florida Melvin C. High Assistant Chief, Metropolitan Police Department Thomas Potter Washington, D. C. Chief, Portland Police Bureau Portland, Oregon UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION Olin L. Greene Edward Wall U.S. Fire Administrator (Former) Deputy Administrator U.S. Fire Administration U.S. Fire Administration George W. Buck, Jr. Phyllis A. Kreitz Project Manager, Moderator Program Analyst U.S. Fire Administration U.S. Fire Administration Charles Burke11 Dr. Burton Clark Training Specialist, Group Facilitator Training Specialist, Group Facilitator National Fire Academy National Fire Academy U.S. Fire Administration U.S. Fire Administration Anthony D. Manno Kenneth H. Stewart Training Specialist, Group Facilitator Moderator National Fire Academy Stewart Training Associates U.S. Fire Administration Richard Adams Moderator RDA Associates vi CONTENTS iii Preface Part 1 OVERVIEW A Picture of the Future 4 The Nature of Riots 5 Part 2 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The Fire Service 9 Recent Civil Disturbances 10 Los Angeles-A Case Study of a Large City 10 Tampa-A Case Study of a Mid-Sized City 22 Virginia Beach-A Case Study of a Small Community 24 Anatomy of a Riot 25 Part 3 MITIGATION Prioritization 31 Planning 31 Addressing Technical and Political Issues 32 Building Strong Relationships Among Agencies 32 Communications 33 Communication Between Police and Fire Agencies 33 Communications Equipment 34 Training 34 Cultural Sensitivity Training 34 Operations Issues 35 Community Relations 36 Sprinkler Systems 36 Part 4 PREPAREDNESS How Police Chiefs and Fire Chiefs Worked Together 41 Prioritization 41 Communications 42 Planning 45 Training 48 Equipment 49 Command and Control 50 Accepting Risk 50 The Role of the Public Information Officer 50 Operations Issues 51 Community Relations 51 How Agencies Can Build a Relationship 51 vii Part 5 RESPONSE Prioritization 55 Communication 56 Planning 57 Command and Control 57 Operations Issues 57 Community Relations 58 Part 6 RECOVERY Training 63 Community Relations 65 Part 7 SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS Mitigation 69 Preparedness 70 Response 70 Recovery 71 Appendixes 1 THE ROLE OF FEDERAL AGENCIES IN CIVIL UNREST 73 2 MODEL OPERATIONS PLANS 81 3 GLOSSARY 85 4 REFERENCES 89 viii 1 OVERVIEW 1 OVERVIEW The Rodney King beating verdicts reached in future instances of civil disturbance. This report April 1992 by a suburban Simi Valley jury trig- presents the recommendations of the Task Force gered civil unrest in cities across the nation, in- on Civil Unrest for dealing with civil disorder. cluding Atlanta and Chicago. The most devastating The Task Force is aware that the needs and re- reaction occurred in Los Angeles, where fifty- sources of communities vary; a single set of guide- three people died in the ensuing riots. The inten- lines to address the problem of civil disorder sity and magnitude of the riots caught city officials nationwide would be ineffective and difficult to by surprise and unprepared to deal with the law- implement. lessness and violence which followed. The result- In crisis situations, concerned agencies respond ing mass destruction of property in the city of Los differently, stemming from variations in tasks, Angeles totalled over $1 billion. jurisdictions, education, geographical environment, The repercussions of the riots were a major level of preparedness, and other administrative and challenge to firefighters, police officers, and sup- political considerations. Consequently, they are porting agencies, who fought large-scale property drawn into a crisis at different moments, with destruction and numerous arson fires, complicated varying viewpoints and purposes, Considering by violent reaction from angry citizens. these divergent responsibilities, it is essential to In the months following the riots, the Office of coordinate efforts to mitigate and control civil Fire Prevention and Arson Control of the U.S. disorders. Fire Administration (USFA) joined with the One means of addressing civil unrest is to de- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) velop a “menu” approach for joint action between to convene a task force of distinguished members law enforcement and fire/emergency medical of the nation’s fire and police chiefs. Their mis- service (EMS) agencies. A list of strategies that a sion was to study the problem of civil unrest, in community may adopt “as is,” or interchange as general, evaluate what took place in Los Angeles, needed, is compiled. Even with this approach, and formulate innovative strategies to deal with joint action between police and fire personnel may OVERVIEW 3 not be the best strategy to control a particular