August 2007
Special Report

Interoperability and Unified Command and Control have Gone “Mobile” and “Virtual”

By Paul Serluco

TheSunTrust Indy™ Challenge at the Richmond Raceway, Richmond Virginia – June 29, 2007
Photo: Paul Serluco

As Americans solemnly remembered and mourned the lives lost on the fifth anniversary of September 11, a crowd of over 120,000 sports enthusiasts descended on the Richmond International Raceway (“RIR” or “the Raceway” as it is commonly called) in Richmond, Virginia to witness NASCAR’s Chevy Rock N Roll 400 race. This event was the single largest gathering of individuals at what was then perceived to be a prime terrorist target to commemorate the fifth anniversary of September 11.

Managing and providing security for crowds of over 100,000 is nothing new to the Henrico County Police Department, the law enforcement agency responsible for the Raceway’s Homeland Security. The challenge is effectively maintaining an interoperable and unified command and control at a venue that adjoins both another county and a metropolitan area and relies on the coordination of a variety of first responders. “Henrico County has to coordinate with first responder resources in Henrico, Chesterfield County, and the City of Richmond when a race occurs at the Raceway” stated Captain Humberto Cardounel, Commanding Officer of the Homeland Security section of the Henrico Police Department. “The NASCAR race on September 9, 2006 presented a challenge to our prior experience because we had the largest gathering of spectators in the United States at a sporting event on the fifth anniversary of 9/11”, Captain Cardounel said.

Command and Control goes Mobile and Virtual

On June 29, 2007, the Richmond Raceway was host to the SunTrust Indy™ Challenge. Though not as large (in terms of crowd size) as a typical NASCAR race, this event was still attended by over 30,000 spectators. During the planning stage of the race, the Henrico County Police/Fire/EMS department’s decided to use this event to test products that would improve first responder interoperability. They were introduced to a company called Ordia Solutions that had just released a Mobile Tactical Collaboration System™ (MCTS) interoperability / communication solution for law enforcement, fire/EMS, and search and rescue agencies. The MTCS is the first of a new generation of intuitive, easy-to-use browser-based solutions that addresses improved interoperability for first responders. The MTCS can be securely hosted inside an agency's firewall and can be delivered to desktop PCs and laptops, and requires no client installation.

“We were impressed with the software system’s potential” Captain Cardounel said. “We were looking for a technology that could be delivered to our first responders in Henrico, Chesterfield, and the City of Richmond on a common platform. With the Ordia solution, I can take other technologies and load them into the MCTS. I was able to pull up the aerial picture of the racetrack from our mobile central command post and plot out, in real time, where all the first responder resources were located. At the same time, all the first responders were able to view the aerial picture (via their laptops) and receive visual instructions. A mobile command post in the back of a vehicle or the police chief back in his office can oversee and manage the event(s) as they occur and command and direct all the resources.”

From a security / crowd control perspective, the SunTrust Indy™ Challenge was a success. The interoperability between the first responders from Henrico County, Chesterfield County, and the City of Richmond was effective and seamless. The only real challenge was traffic control.  “At the race, incident commanders and patrolmen reported gridlock with thousands of cars trying to exit the parking lots” said Lieutenant Richard Cook, race Command and Control Manager. “We used the MCTS to communicate how we wanted to split specific parking lots and re-route exits. Officers at the scene used the MCTS to designate new routes and we were able to “change on the fly”. The result was our ability to “drain” the parking lots quickly without incident”.

For more information about Ordia’s MCTS solution, visit www.homelanddefesensejournal.com  where a Special Report profiling the MCTS can be downloaded.