Episodes
Monday Mar 26, 2018
Sentinel Response 18 FSE and Interagency Cooperation
Monday Mar 26, 2018
Monday Mar 26, 2018
(SGM Gerald Davis, center, looking at camera)
In recent months, California and our nation has been no stranger to devastating natural and man-made emergencies. So, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) joined the California National Guard’s Homeland Response Force (HRF) and 95th Civil Support Team, along with multiple State/Federal Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces, CAL FIRE, FBI, the Department of Energy, and several other elite emergency response agencies for a full-scale terrorism response exercise at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena.
“In just the last year we’ve seen our highly trained emergency response and recovery teams deployed across the nation to lead critical lifesaving missions,” said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. “This exercise will test those critical rescue and response skills, as well as enhance our ability to respond to real world events that could happen anywhere in California, our nation or in other parts of the world."
The training scenario involved a series of simultaneous terrorist attacks across Northern California following a 6.5-magnitude earthquake. The attacks include simulated improvised explosive devices (IED), the detonation of a simulated radiation-dispersal device (RDD) and firearms. Sleep Train Arena will serve as the training site for IED and RDD response, while Sonoma Raceway served as the site for active shooter response training. Hundreds of emergency-response personnel, vehicles, and aircraft participated.
“It’s only through regular, realistic training alongside our partner agencies that we keep our skills sharp and response times low,” said Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, Adjutant General for the California National Guard. “These exercises establish the relationships and interagency coordination that is fundamental to an effective response during emergency incidents.”
In this episode we pull SGM Gerald Davis, of the California National Guard, to talk about organizing such a large and complex training exercise and why they're so important, and so important to make as real as possible.
Tuesday Mar 13, 2018
Active Shooter Incidents and Leaving the Patches on the Table
Tuesday Mar 13, 2018
Tuesday Mar 13, 2018
The term active shooter has been in the news a lot lately, unfortunately. Whether it’s Parkland, Florida, Marshall County, Kentucky, or Yountville, California, armed attacks often leave a trail of dead and injured and shock the communities in which they happen. It’s the kind of tragedy for which law enforcement trains yet can’t always prevent.
In this episode, Cal OES Law Enforcement Chief Mark Pazin, talks about how the agency has increased and improved its active shooter program, the training and some of the more recent challenges state and local law enforcement have faced in order to protect the public from potential attacks. He also expresses his firmly held belief of what it will take to reduce the number of active shooter (or active aggressor, as it’s more often called since not all attackers use firearms) incidents.
Mark Pazin, of Merced, was appointed chief of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Law Enforcement Branch in December, 2013. Pazin has been sheriff-coroner for Merced County since 2002, where he has served in multiple positions at the Sheriff’s Department since 1981, including area commander and assistant sheriff. Pazin has served on the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission since 2011 and is a past president on the California State Sheriffs’ Association President’s Counsel. He earned a Master of Science degree in national security from the American Military University.
Links
Cal OES ACTIVE SHOOTER AWARENESS GUIDANCE