Identifying Best Practices in the dissemination of intelligence to first responders in the fire and EMS services

Abstract

September 11, 2001 thrust the fire service into the world of intelligence but the evolution of its involvement has been slow and challenging. The evolving role in the intelligence process presents unprecedented challenges. This expanded role has presented an opportunity to contribute to the homeland security prevention and protection mission in addition to their traditionally recognized role in response and recovery. As fire service participation expands and the macro level sharing of intelligence between the fire service and the intelligence/law enforcement communities becomes more recognized as a matter of course, it will be necessary for fire service agencies also to develop internal mechanisms of disseminating intelligence to field level personnel. If field level personnel do not receive timely, credible, and actionable information, driven by the intelligence process, before, during and after an incident, their lives, as well as the lives of the public they are trying to help, can be jeopardized. This thesis presents research to answer the question, "how can information and intelligence be better disseminated to local first responders to enhance situational awareness, provide a higher degree of responder safety, and better protect the public?" Structured interviews were conducted to examine existing models being used to disseminate intelligence to first responders who were surveyed to determine what type of intelligence they preferred to receive, and in what format they would prefer to receive it. The findings revealed that first responders want intelligence products in an easily accessible concise format available in real time.