DOINews: NPS-USPP: U.S. Park Police Collaborative Incident Planning Featured in Article

	The U.S. Park Police specialize in management of large and complex events, such as last year's presidential inaugural. Photo by NPS.

The U.S. Park Police's collaborative incident planning and management are featured in a cover story titled “Protecting Life and Civil Liberties: Masters of Collaboration” in a recent edition of DomPrep Journal.

DomPrep- short for "domestic preparedness" - is an information resource for the preparedness community, including emergency planners, responders and receivers from multiple disciplines in multiple jurisdictions.

Capt. Charles Guddemi attended a DomPrep roundtable last May that focused on “Planned Special Events – When Things Go Wrong.” Following that roundtable, he invited DomPrep to shadow some of the law enforcement planning efforts for three events organized by the USPP.

“Collaboration is no longer an option,” writes Guddemi in the issue's foreword. “In today's interconnected society, agencies and organizations must communicate with each other, coordinate resources, and align priorities. In Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco, Calif., the United States Park Police at each location face even greater challenges because of their close proximity to national and international people and places of interest, as well as to the critical infrastructure that is weaved into the daily operations of those major metropolitan cities.

“The USPP must coordinate efforts among various branches within its organizational structure, as well as with outside agencies. Headquartered in the nation's capital, the USPP is responsible for large areas of federal parkland that lie adjacent to land and property protected by neighboring law enforcement agencies. To maximize resources, and avoid the added cost associated with bringing in USPP officers from other parts of the nation, there are benefits for collaborating with those neighboring agencies.”

Author Cathy Feinman put the article together. Feinman joined Team Domestic Preparedness (DomPrep) in January 2010. As the editor, she works with writers and other contributors to build and create new content.

When asked about the process of completing the article, Feinman advised that the intent of this article was to not only describe the planning, training and collaborations that occur behind the scenes, but also to highlight the extensive – but not widely known – responsibilities of the United States Park Police.

“It was an honor to be part of this process,” she says, “and I thank all the officers who welcomed us and provided valuable input for this article.”

Click on this link for a PDF file with the full text of the article.

By: Sgt. Lelani Woods, public information officer, USPP, NPS

Dec. 26, 2013

This story appears in the Dec. 26, 2013, edition of InsideNPS.