EMC045 - Mutual Aid in Action

Here is an actual RACES request for communications mutual aid:

"The County of Orange requests communications mutual aid for the ..... festival. This event will be held on Sunday, March --, 1996 at Thomas F Jones Region 

Park in the City of ......"Mission: to provide extra set of eyes and ears for the Park Rangers at Jones Park, observe and communicate park activities and medical aid requests.

"Date: March --, 1996 Hours of Operations 0630-0830 Setup 0800-1400 16 operators; hours 1400-2000 16 operators.

"City (RACES) Coordinators and Radio Officers: It is requested that each City Coordinator and Radio Officer communicate this mutual aid request to your city RACES membership. Contact (name).festival event coordinator (name), and County RACES Assistant RACES Radio Officer (name) at (phone and Email adddress) for shift assignments. This event will require foot patrol and bicycle mobiles.

"Time is short, please expedite your response. This is another opportunity for those in the RACES in Orange County to pool our communications skills and provide mutual aid support."

"S/S (name) RACES Operational Area Coordinator, Orange County. CC: all Orange County City RACES Organizations."

Now, let's examine this request. It follows the SOP set out in the last 3 bulletins. It specifies where, when, why and what. It is correctly addressed and from the correct agency. It works.

Many jurisdictions use some kind of "mission tasking resource control" or mission identification numbering system. The one in the example was: Orange County RACES 96-002. This serves several purposes. It helps the issuing agency identify the event, and it provides similar identification for responding agencies as well as enhancing the official status.