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Minneapolis & St. Paul PD Strike Team in New Orleans

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What does it mean to be your brother’s keeper?

If you’re a law enforcement officer in Minnesota, it means getting a company like Target to donate supplies and resources – and shuttling down an entire strike team of officers to New Orleans to help out:

We are rolling, all 70 or so vehicles. We are running a little late so I called NOPD to let them know. The officer’s response was, “When ya’ll get here we’re gonna kiss ya! We just crossed into Louisiana. Seeing a lot of military vehicles going north. Storm damage is increasing. Seeing a lot of trees down along the highway. Driving too fast to get some good photos.

This email from a resident of Mississippi is featured on their 9/16 update page.

Dear Sir or Madam:

On my way to work today I saw a long-ish line of police-type vehicles, & as I made my turn I could see on their sides “Minneapolis”!

Please extend our sincere thanks to all of the folks from Minneapolis, as well as Bloomington, Ramsey County, Roseville, and Maplewood, who have come down to help, and to those who are pitching in at home to make their trip possible.

Thanks!!
Robert

It has to be quite a sight to see 70 Minnesota Police cars flying down the highway towards New Orleans….

Lileks: 9/11

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As usual, Lileks says it far better than I ever can:

I have less to say on the fourth anniversary, because I’m not sure what needs to be said. You get it or you don’t, and if the passage of time has made the lessons indistinct, a picture of that September morning will look as remote as a screen grab from “Tora Tora Tora.” As Mark Steyn put it, we are winning the war on terrorism, but perhaps we are losing the war about the war. I’ve seen this happen for a year and a half – hell, since the first reports of Quagmire and the Brutal Afghan Winter. Between the incessant pessimism, the lack of focus, the interminable litany of sins from Abu Ghraib to Gitmo, the tepid wind-chimey spirit of the memorial culture that would rather put a vague sorrowful half-circle in a Pennsylvania field than a monument to courage and half-crazy bravery – well, the floorboards where our betters live are rotten with doubt, and they hear fatal creaks every time they dare take a step. So there’s not much point in wondering where this will go, because it’s already there – and the next time IT happens, we will not wait a month or two before the doubts and attacks begin. A London or Madrid-style attack will expose our divisions more than our solidarities, at least in the media. Anything worse will make such chatterings irrelevant, and as attractive as that sounds, you really don’t want that.

[…]

I wish they’d build it again. The same two towers. Because we can. Because they can’t.

Only Four Years

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Over at his new digs, Lex has a post up about the 4th Anniversary of 9/11:

It’s hard to believe it’s only been four years.

Four years ago we stared at the television screens in shock and anger, teary-eyed, uncomprehending, lacking the vocabulary. We watched the endless loops of those buildings coming down, the Pentagon on fire, a field in rural Pennsylvania. Four years ago our children looked to us with questioning eyes, asking us wordessly how this could happen. Four years ago we did not quite know how to answer them.

Four years ago we wondered who had done this to us, and why it was done. We wondered how anyone could hate so incandescently that they would kill not only themselves, but nearly three thousand anonymous strangers. Four years ago we were still unaware that there were those who hated us and offered us only two choices: Submit, or die.

Four years ago most of us hadn’t heard of al Qaeda, or bin Laden, or al Zawahiri or al Zarqawi, strange combinations of sounds on our tongues, exotic names that led to exotic places like Kabul and Kanduhar, Najaf and Falluja, none of which we’d heard of either, for the most part.

Four years and one day ago we were sour and divided. One day later, we were just Americans, and all the old divisions were meaningless. Since the disaster fallen upon all of us collectively, the wealthy and the poor, without regard to color or ethnicity or gender no one could possibly gain any political advantage by trying to divide us into smaller groups with competing interests. No one even tried. That was four years ago.

Four Years Later

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I believe that I said a year ago everything that I have to say on the subject of September 11th:

Personally, 9/11 was a gut-wrenching emotional experience for me. I was driving in Connecticut on my way to visit a store that morning when a peer called to tell me about what had happened. The second plane had just hit, you see. I spent that morning in South Windsor, Connecticut with my team watching as the day unfolded. I remember, that morning, being almost completely in shock.

[..]

Emotionally, 9/11 affected me – like others – greatly. I was fortunate in that I did not lose any friends or family members that day. But I cried many times during the following days – sometimes out of a sense of loss – sometimes in awe of the heroism displayed that morning – sometimes just because I love my country.

[..]

Professionally, 9/11 has had a huge impact on how my job is viewed – and what I worry about each day. I’ll always focus on the traditional aspects of retail loss prevention – theft and fraud – but now I’m highly concerned with how we prepare and posture ourselves to better respond to a crisis – how we prevent major incidents – how we coordinate with public safety officials – and on and on —

[..]

In the end, I think we all have the responsibility to remember what happened that day – to us – to our fellow man – here in our own country.

A few weeks ago, while having coffee with a peer in Minneapolis, our conversation steered towards the impact of September 11th on our lives – both personally and professionally.

She pulled out her PDA – tapped on it a few times – and spun it around so that I could read it.

It was her calendar – turned to September 11th, 2004 – and it showed just one word:

Remember….

This morning, we donated money to the Pentagon Memorial Fund and the WTC Site Memorial Fund.. Our donation to the Pentagon was in memory of all servicemen and women that have lost their lives during this fight. Our donation to the WTC Site Memorial was in memory of Lt. Ray Murphy, FDNY, a man I never met, but whose photo after the first tower fell is one of the finest examples of courage I have ever seen. That photo adorns my office wall.

We gave because we want to remember….

Things that did go right….

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With the heap of criticism that’s being leveled at FEMA right now, I think it’s important to point out that some things did go right.

Some examples from the public daily FEMA national situation report:

8/27:

State and Federal Preparedness for Hurricane Katrina

FEMA Headquarters:

The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) remains at modified Level II operations with Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) 1 (with an Air Operations Element), 3, 4, 5, 7, 15, and a Military Liaison.

On Saturday, the NRCC will transition to a 24-hour Level I on Saturday, August 27 at 07:00 a.m. EDT. ESFs 2, 6, 8, 9, 10-15 and the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) are being activated.

FEMA Headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center, Florida, and other potentially affected States.

FEMA Region IV:

The Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) remains at Level II operations. In addition to ESFs 1, 3, 4, 7, 14, 15 and the Department of Defense (DOD), ESF 6 has been activated. ESFs 2, 8, 9, 11, 12 and Rapid Needs Assessment are being activated.

RRCC Level I will be established on Saturday, August 27 at 12 p.m. EDT. Beginning Sunday, August 28 the RRCC will go to 24-hour operations.

An Emergency Response Team-Advance Element (ERT-A) from Region IX has been activated and will arrive to pre-stage in the RRCC on Saturday.

8/28:

Federal Actions:

The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team is activated at Level I (Full Activation).

FEMA headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences at noon EDT with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center and the potentially affected States.

The FEMA ERT-N (Blue) team was activated and deployed to Baton Rouge, LA at noon August 27.

FEMA Region IV: The RRCC in Atlanta activated at Level I (full activation).

FEMA Region VI: The RRCC in Denton, TX activated at Level I (full activation).

8/29:

FEMA Headquarters: The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team is activated at Level I (Full Activation).

FEMA headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences at noon EDT with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center and the potentially affected States.

The Logistics Readiness Center is operational 24/7.

MERS Teams have been deployed to Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Texas to support Hurricane Katrina response operations.

32 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams have been sent to staging areas in Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.

Seven Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces have been deployed to Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.

The ERT-N Blue is deployed to the Louisiana State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rogue.

FEMA Region IV RRCC in Atlanta activated at Level I (full activation).

Four ERT-As are operational in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.

FEMA Region VI RRCC in Denton, TX activated at Level I (full activation).

It will be interesting down the road a bit to read the after-action reports and see what actually did happen – versus what is being sensationalized right now by the press and others. The failures of many will be clear and in the black and white… but so will the successes of many.

Bill Whittle: Tribes

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The incredible Bill Whittle is at it again with his latest: Tribes

A couple tidbits:

That has nothing to do with me being white. If the blacks and Hispanics and Jews and gays that I work with and associate with were there with me, it would have been that much better. That’s because the people I associate with – my Tribe – consists not of blacks and whites and gays and Hispanics and Asians, but of individuals who do not rape, murder, or steal. My Tribe consists of people who know that sometimes bad things happen, and that these are an opportunity to show ourselves what we are made of. My people go into burning buildings. My Tribe consists of organizers and self-starters, proud and self-reliant people who do not need to be told what to do in a crisis. My Tribe is not fearless; they are something better. They are courageous. My Tribe is honorable, and decent, and kind, and inventive. My Tribe knows how to give orders, and how to follow them. My Tribe knows enough about how the world works to figure out ways to boil water, ration food, repair structures, build and maintain makeshift latrines, and care for the wounded and the dead with respect and compassion.

There are some things my Tribe is not good at at all. My Tribe doesn’t make excuses. My Tribe will analyze failure and assign blame, but that is to make sure that we do better next time, and we never, ever waste valuable energy and time doing so while people are still in danger. My Tribe says, and in their heart completely believes that it’s the other guy that’s the hero. My Tribe does not believe that a single Man can cause, prevent or steer Hurricanes, and my Tribe does not and has never made someone else responsible for their own safety, and that of their loved ones.

My Tribe doesn’t fire on people risking their lives, coming to help us. My Tribe doesn’t curse such people because they arrived on Day Four, when we felt they should have been here before breakfast on Day One. We are grateful, not to say indebted, that they have come at all. My Tribe can’t eat Nike’s and we don’t know how to feed seven by boiling a wide-screen TV. My Tribe doesn’t give a sweet God Damn about what color the looters are, or what color the rescuers are, because we can plainly see before our very eyes that both those Tribes have colors enough to cover everyone in glory or in shame. My Tribe doesn’t see black and white skins. My Tribe only sees black and white hats, and the hat we choose to wear is the most personal decision we can make.

That’s the other thing, too – the most important thing. My Tribe thinks that while you are born into a Tribe, you do not have to stay there. Good people can join bad Tribes, and bad people can choose good ones. My Tribe thinks you choose your Tribe. That, more than anything, is what makes my Tribe unique.

I am so utterly and unabashedly proud of my Tribe, that my words haunt and mock me for their pale weakness and shameful inadequacy.

[…]

I made my decision by about 9:30 eastern on September 11th, 2001. I have never regretted it.

It takes courage to fight oncoming storms. Courage.

Courage isn’t free. It is taught, taught by certain tribes who have been around enough and seen enough incoming storms to know what one looks like. And I think the people of this nation, and those of New Orleans, specifically, desire and deserve some fundamental lessons in courage.

Because we are going to need it.

Random Thoughts on Katrina

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I don’t have a lot of time this weekend to write about this the way that I would like to do – and it’s clear that there are things that I shouldn’t say or share because of the job I hold now…. I spent all day yesterday dealing with the aftermath of this at work and will do so again and again in the days to come.. and as you see on television, the devastation is horrendous and it will become worse over time as the waters recede over the next 60-80 days.

There’s a ton of fingerpointing going on about this – there will be time for it down the road and I’m sure we’ll be able to read many thousands of pages of after-action reports at some point if we’re so inclined – but the time for solution and actions is now.

Blaming the Mayor, the Governor, the President, FEMA, DHS, or other agencies isn’t really the path to be on right now – the focus should be about what help you can provide – what expertise you can provide – and what role you can play to help with the efforts.