The Center has devoted its entire Fall seminar series to reflections on and assessment of progress in public safety and emergency response since 9/11. We have events coming up to remember 9/11 to remember the responders lost, panels on public security, investigating the World Trade Center collapse, and a review of the federal role in counterterrorism since 9/11. Click here for a flyer of the pdf version of the RaCERS with all events.

November 2011

Panelists Setha Low (Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center); Maki Haberfeld (Law and Police Science) and Charles Jennings (Security, Fire and Emergency Management) reprised a panel on Security in Lower Manhattan originally done in the 2002 conference “Between Expedience and Deliberation: Decision Making for Post-9/11 New York.”.  The panel reflected on their recommendations from 2002, and the path of changes in security in New York and society since 9/11.

October 2011

The Center was pleased to present a panel discussion on “Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse? A Reflection on the NIST Investigation.” This panel brought together a number of scholars active in various aspects of advocacy for the investigation of the World Trade Center collapse and building code reforms following 9/11. James Quintierre (University of Maryland); Jake Pauls (Expert in Pedestrian Movement and Use of Stairs); and Glenn Corbett (John Jay College) had a free-wheeling and illuminating discussion of the behind-the-scenes dealing and controversy that surrounded the call for, funding, and execution of the official investigation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Moderator Scott Knowles (Drexel University) moderated the event and provided a history of societal response to disaster based on his new book The Disaster Experts: Managing Risk in Modern America.

September 2011

As part of the College's 9/11 Remembrance, Center staff participated in the day-long conference organized by the Center on Terrorism “9/11 After Ten Years: Cultural, Personal, and Historical Perspectives.”

The Center also sponsored showings of the Academy Award-winning documentary “Twin Towers,” which told the stories of brothers Joe and John Viggiano, members of NYPD and FDNY, respectively, both of whom were killed on 9/11. The film was introduced by Prof. Richard Mack (Law and Police Science) who provided reflections and memories of the the brothers and their sacrifice.

September 2011

William Bodt, US Army NORTHCOM, from the FEMA Region II Defense Coordinating Office, presented a detailed overview of post-Katrina changes in the Defense Support to Civil Authorities.  His presentation covered the resources available and concept of operations for military support to the FEMA mission.

July 2011

RaCERS announces continued relationship with ICF International to support Emergency Planning in the New York region. ICF International , has selected RaCERS to assist with projects for the NY-NJ-CT-PA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team and other clients. “The relationship between ICF's Homeland Security practice and the RaCERS is a natural fit. Our research interests and experienced faculty and researchers are working on important work that builds on our teaching and research and utilizes our practitioner experience” stated Charles Jennings, RaCERS Director.

June 2011

DHS Lab Director Joins RaCERS Advisory Board
Adam Hutter, PhD, Director of the US Department of Homeland Security's Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) joined the Christian Regenhard Center's Advisory Board. NUSTL’s mission is to test, evaluate, and analyze homeland security capabilities while serving as a technical authority to first responder, state, and local entities in protecting our cities. 

May 2011

Radio Interoperability: Learning from Successful Regional Efforts
RaCERS' Charles Jennings presented preliminary findings of case study research of four regions around the United States. The sites were judged successful based on their rating in the DHS Tactical Interoperability Scorecards, completed in 2006.

April 2011

Erica Chenoweth Discusses Radio Interoperability
Erica Chenoweth presented her work on radio interoperability and the role of UASI governance  in achieving success.  The audience engaged in a lively discussion, and she shared preliminary findings from her ongoing research on terrorism.

Joe Flood, author of "The Fires: How a Computer Formula, Big Ideas, and the Best of Intentions Burned Down New York City - and Determined the Future of Cities" gave a reading, discussed his findings, and engaged the audience in a discussion of New York City, the FDNY, and the RAND project. The discussion was enlivened by the presence of some FDNY members who worked during the study, and concluded with a discussion on lessons for managing cities using complex quantitative models.

RaCERS staff spent two days observing a large-scale exercise involving New Jersey, New York, and federal agencies. The event was designed to test mass casualty/fatality management and communications capabilities.

D. Harvin, RaCERS Advisory Board Member, will be presenting at the EMS Expo Conference to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada in August 29-September 2, 2011.

Lynn Canton, FEMA Region II Administrator, provided an overview of ongoing changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Also in attendance were several College alumni who are now employed in various capacities at FEMA.

At the February 18 meeting of the Center's Advisory Board, D. Harvin was selected to join the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee exercises day-to-day fiscal and programmatic oversight of the Center. Glenn Corbett, our founding Executive Committee member, will continue as a member of the Advisory Board.

RaCERS Advisory Board member D. Harvin of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City, provided a comprehensive presentation on mass fatality management, particularly following events involving weapons of mass destruction or environmental contamination.

David Heller, transportation planner with the South Jersey Metropolitan Planning Organization, presented his analysis of evacuation issues related to Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Heller's talk attracted numerous questions, and identified the importance of working with transportation planners in emergency planning.

RaCERS affiliated researcher Prof. Darryl Plecas, of the University of the Fraser Valley (BC, CANADA), presented findings of an evaluation of security for the Vancouver area Olympics event.  The evaluation, the first of its kind to be supervised by an academic institution, funded by the government, and released to the public, provided a fascinating view of the complexities and challenges of securing a truly global event. Equally interesting was a discussion by Plecas on the institutional arrangements that permitted the close cooperation of a team of academics with federal and local law enforcement in Canada and beyond to produce the study, which provided not only description, but evaluation of the strategies employed at the Games.

The Center was pleased to present Ian Blair, Lord of Boughton, former head of the London Metropolitan Police. Lord Blair spoke on his observations and findings form his extensive policing experience, including the transition of the London Metropolitan Police after 9/11 and through the challenges of the 7/7 attacks and their aftermath. Lord Blair offered remarks on the challenges of counter-terrorism in a multicultural environment and drew intriguing insights on the challenges facing the U.S. law enforcement community and civil society.

Center for Emergency Response Studies (RaCERS) shared the stage with the New York Firefighter’s Burn Center Foundation http://nyffburncenter.org  in a fundraiser held at the Marine Corps League Clubhouse in Massapequa, NY. The event, organized by our friend Audrey MacMillan, honored the US Marine Corps. The event paid posthumous tribute to 1st Lt. Michael Li Calzi of Garden City, who was killed serving in the Marines in Iraq, and Christian Regenhard of the FDNY, killed on 9/11.

John Gibb, long-time Director of the New York State Emergency Management Office, gave an address shortly after being named as Acting Commissioner of the  New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. The newly-created agency unites several emergency response functions under one agency for the first time. Comm. Gibb provided an overview of the new agency and discussed areas of emphasis in the future. The event was co-sponsored by the Center on Terrorism.

RaCERS Center Director Charles Jennings was appointed to a steering committee of a DHS-funded gap analysis of software programs for developing situation awareness. The Common Operating Picture (COP) software assessment, which was led by the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security [www.asfhs.org] in Bethpage, NY, included site visits to evaluate programs in use around the US, and interact with emergency responder stakeholders. 

A panel of speakers provided an overview of the latest developments in high-rise building safety and security.  Lieutenant Commander David Kelly of the NYPD Counter-terrorism Division provided an overview of security requirements and practices detailed in the NYPD's recently-published guidance manual for building designers, owners and managers. Jack Murphy, Adjunct Faculty member and representative of the Fire Safety Director's Association of Greater New York, spoke on new technologies and approaches for development and retrieval of critical building information for emergency responders.  Prof. Norman Groner discussed use of elevators in evacuating high-rise buildings, and his experience working with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to develop policy for use of elevators during emergencies.

Panelists

"Use of Elevators for High-Rise Evacuation"
• Norman Groner, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Protection Management, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
• Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers committee on Use of Elevators for Evacuation

"New Code Provisions, Local Legislative Update, and New Technologies to Assist in Planning and Incident Response."
• Jack Murphy, Consultant and Representative, Fire Safety Directors Association of New York
  
• Charles Jennings, PhD, Director, Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies, Moderator
  
  
  

Dr. Frank Straub, Director of Public Safety of the City of Indianapolis, Indiana, spoke on the Public Safety Model.  The Public Safety Model, which ranges from a single official overseeing police and fire/EMS, through to full integration of the police and fire/EMS functions, has the potential to achieve better coordination and promote efficiency. Dr. Straub, formerly of the NYPD and City of White Plains Department of Public Safety, is recognized for the innovative strategies used to coordinate police and fire to achieve measurable results in crime reduction, public safety, and homeland security preparedness.

Gerard MacAleer of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP) moderated the session.

This event was co-sponsored by the Homeland Security Club and the Student Chapter of the International Association of Emergency Management.

The world has watched with concern as the people of Haiti cope with the unprecedented devastation of earthquake of January 12, 2010. This report was a first-hand account of one of America's most experienced Urban Search and Rescue responders. It was geared to the lay person, as well as those interested in emergency management and technical rescue. Battalion Chief Collins is also a member of the Advisory Board for the College's Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies (RaCERS). A follow-up discussion was held and focused on a research agenda for urban search and rescue.

More than 50 John Jay students, faculty members, alumni and guests attended "Report from Haiti: Through the Eyes of Urban Search and Rescue Teams.". Other co-sponsors included the Office of Student Development, IAEM Student Chapter, and the Homeland Security Club. Outside attendees included representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); New York Police Department; and the NYS Senate.

Speakers included FDNY Battalion Chief Joe Downey, Special Operations Command, and Lt. Tom Donnelly, (FDNY Rescue 1), both of whom are part of NY-TF1, the City's urban search and rescue team.

The presentation was followed by a Question and Answer session lasted more than two hours, coming to a close shortly after noon. The moving presentation included many onsite photographs taken only hours following the massive 7.0 January 12 earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, killing thousands and destroying thousands of buildings.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under the authority of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, led the U.S. government’s response efforts. The Los Angeles (Calif.) and Fairfax County (Va.) US&R Task Forces were activated and deployed by USAID pursuant to existing agreements. In addition, four U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) US&R Task Forces, from Virginia Beach (Va.), New York (N.Y.), Miami-Dade (Fla.), and Miami (Fla.), were sent to Haiti. This was the first time that FEMA had sent US&R Task Forces outside the United States. Collectively, these six US&R teams rescued at least 47 people from underneath collapsed buildings, according to Gunnar J. Kuepper, IAEM-USA Region 9 President.

RaCERS staff attend christening of the Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security (now named Morrelly Homeland Security Center) in Bethpage, New York. The Center, which will include City University of New York as a partner institution, will bring together industry, government, and academic researchers. The ceremony was attended by numerous elected officials, and Emergency Management Commissioners or Directors from the State of New York, Nassau, Suffolk, and New York City. Commissioner Sal Cassano, FDNY, gave the keynote address. The Center will be headed by John Jay alum Richard Rotanz.

Prof. Robert Till presented his innovative research utilizing eye tracking technology to better understand and document first responder activity and decision aids under simulated emergency conditions. He also presented his work on agent-based models for simulating emergencies in subway, stadium, and campus environments.

The October Conference, held in conjunction with an Advisory Board meeting, included presentations on incident management at the MOVE siege of 1985, and the Pentagon Attack of 9/11/01. Former Philadelphia Fire Commissioner William Richmond, and Steve Souder, then-Director of Emergency Communications for Arlington County, Virginia offered their first-hand experiences in these events. The audience enjoyed a moving and thoughtful discussion on elements of police and fire coordination in these two milestone events in American public safety history.

Ms. de Guttry presented the findings of her joint research-in-residence at John Jay College's Christian Regenhard Center and the FDNY. The research described Italian and European Union approaches to disaster management, and made comparisons with the National Incident Management System and New York City's Citywide Incident Management System. Her presentation is also posted under our publications page.

RaCERS hosted its first visiting scholar. Erika de Guttry, (shown with James Manahan, Chief of Operations, FDNY) a post-graduate of the University of Pisa, holds a position sponsored by RaCERS, John Jay College. Her position is being hosted by the Fire Department of New York, where she is studying emergency incident planning. Ms. De Guttry studied legal and administrative aspects of response to disasters in Italy. She will be resident through October 2009.

RaCERS Director Charles Jennings attended briefings on the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in June 2009. These briefings and discussions with CALL staff are being used to help refine RaCERS methodology for developing lessons learned for civil first responders.

June 3, 2009 – RaCERS faculty observe Empire '09, a full-scale exercise involving a radiological dispersal device in the Albany, NY area. The exercise, overseen by the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission, involved local, State, and federal assets including the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) and US Department of Energy.

This exercise was designed to simulate a bomb attack on a PATH train in the tunnel between the World Trade Center and Exchange Place stations. The exercise was jointly organized by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New York City officials. Numerous supporting agencies participated.

Audrey McMillan, a friend of the Center, donates “A Prayer for My Brother” by renowned aviation artist William S. Phillips.

The meeting included a dinner and all-day meeting the following day

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Chief of Department Sal Cassano, and others joined the Regenhard family and President Jeremy Travis of John Jay College for the announcement of the formation of the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies. The event was attended by friends and colleagues of Christian Regenhard, as well as members of the emergency services community in the New York area. Visitors came from as far as Oakland, California for the event. NY1 news network coverage of the event.