DERT INFORMER

In This Issue

Building a Safer Dallas Through Public-

Private Partnerships.

A Fresh Look At Downtown Events

JCTAWS—Training and Exercises

Quality of Life Initiative

Severe Weather Preparedness

Upcoming Events, Training/Weather-

Helpful links

Building at Safer Dallas

Building a Safer Dallas Through Public-Private Partnerships

On March 8th, the City of Dallas Office of Emergency Manage-ment—in conjunction with Downtown Dallas, Inc.; Dallas Emer-gency Response Team; and Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau—conducted the first Public-Private Partnership Sympo-sium—Building a Safer Dallas. This event emphasized the commitment of the public and private sectors to work together in a whole community approach to safety and preparedness.

The symposium was held at the Meyerson Symphony Center, providing a gorgeous backdrop to vital safety and planning in-formation. We held two breakout sessions of three panels each on subjects like crisis communications, building evacuations, and risk assessment. These timely topics were presented by knowledgeable and experienced professionals.

Our keynote speaker, Michael Carano, brought his expertise as Executive Director of ChicagoFIRST. Chicago has a robust Public-Private partnership focusing on security and business continuity. Mr. Carano’s address gave us all aspects to consid-er as Dallas moves forward with developing our program.

In preparation for the Symposium, we updated the Downtown Dallas Emergency Response Plan. This resource manual pro-vides critical information for businesses and building managers on common hazards and how to deal with these most likely events. We look forward to working with all our partners in con-tinuing to develop this mutually beneficial resource in the fu-ture.

If you did not receive a copy of the Resource Manual, please contact either Kevin Oden with the City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management at kevin.oden@dallascityhall.com or Martin Cramer with Downtown Dallas, Inc. at Cramer@downtowndallas.com.

Downtown Dallas, Inc. WELCOME TO DOWNTOWN DALLAS! April 2016

Spring is a new and exciting time for the Central Business District. With warmer weather, more events are blooming like wild flowers. These events provide many amazing opportunities for visitors and residents to experience the CBD.

Deep Ellum Arts Festival was one of the first and longest running events to kick off the season. This street fair brought in artists, food, artisans, and mu-sicians to district in early April. Other events throughout April, May, and into June include a wide range of subjects from the Dallas Art Fair, Dallas International Film Festival, Dallas Book Festival, and so much more.

These events bring in thousands of visitors boosting the visibility and economy of the CBD. However these events also mean increased needs for securi-ty. Everyone involved in or around these events are encouraged to exercise caution and increased vigi-lance.

Encourage all participants in events and visitors to practice basic safety by keeping belongings close and secure, to be aware of their surroundings, and to re-port any suspicious activity.

Dallas Police has both a tip line and iWatch app- http://www.dallaspolice.net/iwatchdallas/iwatchdallas.html— for anyone to report any kind of activity. Remember, See Something—Say Something.

For a schedule of upcoming events, visit: :

http://www.dallasspecialevents.com/event-calendar/

JCTAWS—TRAINING AND EXERCISES

Training and exercise is a vital element to emergency preparedness and planning for both the public and private sector. The Office of Emergency Manage-ment (OEM) works with all our partners through the Dallas Emergency Response Team (DERT) to coor-dinate and create ready-to-use training on topics like: active shooter, severe weather, and building evacua-tions.

In addition to these recorded trainings, OEM is also planning a major, two-day workshop with the Joint Counter-Terrorism Awareness Workshop Series. This program involves local, state, and federal part-ners as well as private sector partners for a whole community approach to addressing potential haz-ards.

This workshop will present a complex, coordinated scenario based on recent events in Paris and San Bernardino. This will be a major event with about 200 participants engaged in the scenario. The pur-pose of this series to access readiness and re-sponse to a large-scale event. We look forward to working with all our partners n this exercise.

If you’re interested in knowing more about what exercises are available, check out the DERT website—http://dallascityhall.com/departments/officeemergencyman-agement/Pages/

Quality of Life Initiative

With a rising residential population existing alongside the vibrant downtown business community, quality of life has become a major priority to law enforce-ment in the Central Business District. On February 1, 2016, the Dallas Police instituted the Quality of Life Initiative with support from DART, Downtown Safety Patrol, and El Centro College.

The initiative addresses aggressive panhandling in downtown Dallas. Aggres-sive panhandling is an act of a person verbally confronting another person, de-manding a monetary donation. The police urge those asked for money to “simply say, ‘no’, and then go!”. And though panhandling is often associated with homelessness, Dallas Police Assistant Chief Gary Tittle says those are “not synonymous terms. You have a lot of homeless people who simply are not pan-handlers […] and you have panhandlers who are not always homeless.”

The initiative runs 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and has seen results in the short time it has run. Technology and resources gives these law enforcement agencies the ability to geolocate offenses and identify areas where aggressive panhandling recurs. This ability also allows for pinpointing addresses and most known offenders allowing law enforcement to have an impact on the aggressive and unsafe behavior that can be associated with panhandling.

For those who wish to help the less fortunate in the area, the police recommend donating to reputable charities, organizations, or churches instead of directly to the homeless or panhandler. If anyone sees panhandling, residents are encour-aged to report it as they would any other suspicious activity.

Severe Weather Preparedness Severe Weather is here. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hail can happen with little warning. These storms can be dangerous. Down-town businesses, residents, and buildings need to take basic precau-tions: Make sure first aid kits are stocked and up-to-date, and keep fire

extinguishers charged. Identify safe places in the lowest point of the building—such as

basements, underground parking garages, and windowless rooms like bathrooms.

Have pre-planned evacuation routes either to the safe zones or out of the building and run practice drills. Remember elevators may not work in storms and need to be addressed in plans.

If you can’t get to a safe location—take shelter under sturdy furni-ture and cover your head.

If you’re trapped in a building—use flashlights, whistles, or tap on debris to alert emergency responders to your location. Using your voice increases the risk of dust and contaminant inhalation.

The Dallas Office of Emergency Management website – www. DallasEmergencyManagement.com – has more information on local hazards and how to prepare the home and car for safety no matter what the emergency.

DERT INFORMER

www.dallasalert.com

Office of Emergency

Management

1500 Marilla, Room L2AN

Dallas, TX 75201

Tel: 214.670.4275

Fax: 214.670.4677

oem@DallasCityHall.com

THANK YOU!

To all the partners, sponsors, and attendees of the first Public

–Private Partnership Symposium. We look forward to Building

a Safer Dallas with you in the future.

Training Links—Weather Links—Helpful Hints—Other Resources

—Training Links—

http://www.preparingtexas.org

http://www.fema.gov

http://www.nctog.org/ep/training

—Weather Links—

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/radio.html

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/skywarn.html

—Other Resources—

http://www.knowhat2do.com

http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit

http://www.dallasalert.org

http://www.dallascert.com

http://www.domesticpreparedness.com

Subscribe to Downtown

Dallas, Inc.’s newslet-

ters and e-blasts to stay

up to date on the latest

Downtown news,

events, and openings!

—Helpful Hints—

Emergency supplies to keep handy

Flashlights with extra bat-teries

First Aid kit

Food/water for employees and customers to use dur-ing a period of unexpected confinement at your busi-ness

Plastic to cover expensive equipment and furnishings

Hard hats, gloves and boots

NOAA weather radio with batteries

Have a plan to contact your family.