QRZ! Ham Radio 6/QRZ Ham Radio Callsign Database - Volume 6.iso/pc/files/races/mgtro1.txt

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 19.8 KB | 365 lines

Page 1

MGTRO1  Version 1. 3   3/1/92



Subject: THE RADIO OFFICER
(The Key to Success) Part 1, [Category: MGT]

THE RADIO OFFICER: A DISCUSSION AND PERSPECTIVES
The use of Amateur Radio operators in a structured program by
local governments is called RACES---Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service. Every county should have a RACES unit.
Legislative hearings in 1983 took the State to task for letting
RACES disappear in most areas in California and directed the
State OES to bring the RACES back on line and take its place with
other local government volunteer programs such as those for
reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers, volunteer
firefighters, etc.
RACES is a part of your government. It is not a separate,
detached or outside organiza_tion. RACES volunteers are your
government's deputy communications personnel, your reserve of
Amateur Radio operators. They comprise a pool of skilled
communicators with reliable and sophisticated radio systems at no
cost to the government. They are entitled to the privilege of
being enrolled in RACES in every county or community.
RACES Radio Officers are appointed by the State, county and city
emergency management agencies they serve. They are a part of the
agency staff and expected to be treated as such.
The Radio Officer should be provided a job description, provided
the organization practices and policies, learn the relationships
to other agencies, attend staff meetings, may be sent to training
sessions/seminars, provided space to work and resources to carry
out the management of a program that would otherwise be staffed
by a paid posi_tion in past years.
In short, the Radio Officer should be made to feel a part of your
staff as would a paid employee. We, in turn, expect the same
interest, professionalism and dedication from any RACES Radio
Officer.
We can appreciate that it may be difficult for emergency services
managers to accept this if you have never had an unpaid
[qualified] volunteer on your staff. It can also be difficult to
grasp the RACES program where it has been dead in many areas for
up to 20 years. The State legislature has mandated that this
oversight be corrected. This, coupled with reduced budgets, makes
the use of skilled volunteers in law enforcement, fire
suppression, search and rescue, and communications sound and
practical.
Amateur Radio operators are a valuable resource of skills and
in-place communications systems and equipment at no cost to
government. [Done correctly] their availability and usage is
called the RACES program. In short, they are assigned directly to
you or to whomever you have delegated the emergency
communications function. In effect RACES is managed by the
department to whom you have delegated the emergency
com_munications function.
The RACES Radio Officer is not a paper assignment just to place a
name in a plan or a doomsday roster and then forget about it. We
have, unfortunately, received reports of some jurisdictions where
this seems to be the case. Here are some of the varitions:
1. The OES agency does not understand the RACES program, lacks
information, is mis_informed by outsiders, and/or is unaware that
every county and State OES Region should have an active RACES
unit.
[There are many city RACES units as well, but for good management
reasons we do not generally advocate new RACES units in cities of
under 500,000 population. A partic_ularly troublesome emergency
management problem exists if there are city RACES units in a
county that has no bona fide county RACES program. Our office
will he pleased to work with you to successfully overcome any of
these shortcomings.]
2. The RACES officer is not adequately fulfilling the
expectations of the position. [Have you provided a written job
description? This office will provide model Radio Officer and
Communicator job descriptions for the asking.]
3. The RACES Radio Officer is not the right manager for the job.
Can you rectify this problem through closer supervision,
assistance from our office, or by replacing the individual?
4. Failure to integrate and maintain close and harmonious
relations with ARES--the Amateur Radio Emergency Service
sponsored by the American Radio Relay League. All ARES members
should be enrolled in RACES, but the individual's preferences
should be respected by categorizing each RACES member as 1st
level response, 2nd level, and so forth. This is the job of the
Radio Officer and his/her staff.
5. Failure [of the government agency] to permit the RACES
personnel to be used as frequently as possible in exercises,
special events for training purposes, and real emergencies.
Volunteers will not and cannot be expected to perform in the
manner you expect if they are not either trained or used on a
regular basis.
6. Radio Officer failing to stop by the office at least once or
twice a month as a bare minimum. Failure to do so can excuse the
OES agency from observing step number 7. Failure to do so will
also doom your RACES unit and program to failure.
7. OES agency's failure to remember that the Radio Officer is a
regular member of the staff and should, for example, receive
distribution of all staff memos, pertinent cor_respondence,
appropriate clerical support, and appropriate work space. The
Radio Officer (or an assistant) is to be invited to staff
meetings, conferences, appropriate in-government training, and
other employee functions. The Radio Officer should have an "in"
basket at the office. A well informed volunteer feels the pride
of belonging and should serve with the same professionalism as
paid staff.
The Regional Radio Officer, or where none is appointed, the State
Radio Officer, or State OES Coordinator, will meet with you and
your RACES Radio Officer to discuss these and other subjects to
create, improve, or maintain a proper RACES program.

At one extreme is the government administrator who feels that a
volunteer can't be expected to do a job as well as an employee.
The other extreme is the employee who feels that anyone who is
expected to accept responsibilities and meet minimum performance
expectations should be paid; i.e., "If you expect me to do that,
then you should go hire someone!" Both extremes, of course, are
unacceptable in successful volunteer pro_grams.
Again, RACES is only as good as government expects it to be,
allows it to be, directs it to be and trains it to be.
Perhaps you have heard of a recruiting problem -- not at all
unusual: "We would like a RACES unit but we can't find a RACES
Officer." What they are saying is that they cannot find a ham
with the requisite organizational and management skills this
position re_quires.
There are at least four steps an agency shouldn't overlook in
finding their Radio Officer:
(1) First, prepare a written position description for the Radio
Officer and a general statement of standards and expectations for
all the RACES personnel. (These are avail_able from this or any
Region Office and are very helpful in briefing any potential
ap_plicant; it is better to state these items up front to
minimize your disappointment in signing up the joiners,
non-producers, the unmotivated and inexperienced volunteer.)
(2) Ask your local hams or Amateur Radio club(s) to propose Radio
Officer candidates.
(3) Ask the next higher RACES echelon if they can provide a Radio
Officer. This is a common and effective method. A county may be
able to provide an experienced Radio Officer for one of its
cities, and the State might be able to transfer a skilled
individual to a county in need.
(4) Make known your requirements to the ARRL ARES (American Radio
Relay League's Amateur Radio Emergency Service) emergency
coordinator. RB019 through 022

HOW COMMUNICATION VOLUNTEERS CAN BE USED
QUESTION: I am new at using volunteers in our government. How can
I use volunteers in communications?
ANSWER: [Besides the skills of the Radio Officer, some assignment
skills for your un_paid professional communication specialists in
government service are:
-voice radio operators for tactical and formal traffic;
-digital operators for packet radio, AMTOR, and radioteletype.
This can include unli_censed people skilled at typing messages
into computers;
-monitor receiver operators to listen for information, news or
intelligence from broadcast, public safety and ham radio
stations;
-Net Control voice operators. This takes a special and uncommon
skill that you should identify and recruit in advance of their
need;
-Shift supervisors. Trained volunteers to manage the other
volunteers; -Shadows. A shadow is a radio operator who brings
his/her own two-way radio (usually Amateur Radio) communications
and accompanies a key official around the clock as long as that
official is on duty. The shadow is also capable of operating the
official's own radio, cellular telephone, etc.; and
-Comm Unit Leaders on incidents. Where the Incident Command
System is used for the public safety communications resources and
Amateur Radio is also used, their should also be a ham Comm Unit
Leader. The two should work side by side throughout the
in_cident.
This has unfortunately not been the case during the past five
years of most of the major state and federal forest fire
operations in California. This could be attributed to growing
pains because the use of volunteer communications was virtually
unknown by the fed_eral government and for less than ten years
among a few state units. We strongly rec_ommend that the federal
or state Comm Unit Leader assure in the future that there be a
volunteer Comm Unit Leader who will work where he works
throughout the incident. This can eliminate the confusion and
problems that do and will arise, no matter how well the
volunteers have served in the past. Volunteers must not be
allowed to function without tight coordination, direction and
control from those they are serving. State and federal wildfire
suppression organizations are urged to amend their ICS checklist
for their Comm Unit Leader to include establishing a volunteer
Comm Unit Leader that works for and with the principal position.
As we enter the fifth year of drought in the West, it behooves us
all to preplan, organize, train and stand ready more than ever
before. The threat grows as the budgets shrink. Our agency knows
that there are vol_unteers and there are volunteers. We recruit,
train and promote the use of those we call unpaid professional
communications specialists. We recognize that there are
volunteers who can be defined as self serving or loose canons;
they are not of concern because they don't have to be recruited
and they can be dismissed. No government agency should be the
least bit reluctant to do the latter. A major portion of our
volunteer management orientation is spent on this aspect of not
being reluctant to select and reject.
RB164, 165

RADIO OFFICER'S DATA BASE
[Duplicate in Mutual Aid Section: "Essential Mutual Aid Records,
etc.]
RACES personnel helping out on incidents outside of their
jurisdiction is a common occurrence. This is part of MUTUAL AID
operations and procedures. It is not necessary to be registered
as a Disaster Service Worker in more than one jurisdiction. This
practice is, in fact, improper. A Volunteer should have only one
ID card and should surrender an old card when transferring to a
new jurisdiction.
As a part of the Communications classification of Disaster
Service Workers, all RACES personnel are a part of the CALIFORNIA
MASTER MUTUAL AID SYSTEM.
To access additional Amateur Radio resources through this system,
a jurisdiction con_tacts the next level up of government. For
example, a City Radio Officer would contact the County Radio
Officer with the request. The County Radio Officer will
coordinate with other city RACES organizations and his own
organization to fill the needs. If the County Operational Area
organization cannot fill the need, the County Radio Officer
contacts their State OES Region RACES Coordinator, who will work
with the other counties in the OES Mutual Aid Region to obtain
the needed resources.
This system does not prohibit the establishment of AUTOMATIC AID
AGREEMENTS be_tween the Emergency Management Organizations of two
(or more) adjacent jurisdic_tions; the Regional RACES
Coordinator, however, should be advised when an Automatic Aid
situation is in progress, so that OES Region staff is aware that
resources in those jurisdictions are not available.
Accurate records are a prerequisite for Radio Officers at all
levels --- city, county and OES Region. Every new Radio Officer
needs to develop and maintain a roster of names and telephone
numbers for their counterparts in neighboring jurisdictions. If
yours is not complete and current, we urge all emergency
management agencies and Radio Officers give this top priority.
Another bad fire season be around the corner. A major earthquake
could happen at any time. Your jurisdiction could receive a
request through channels to provide RACES operators for an
incident hundreds of miles away or even in an adjacent state.
This has happened in prior fire seasons and, where RACES was
still in the formative or non-extant stage RACES mutual aid
response was slow, disorganized and inefficient.
Region Radio Officers need to know how to contact every
participating county in their Region and, in some cases, cities.
Every county Radio Officer should know the names and telephone
numbers of their Region, cities, and adjoining county Radio
Officers.
It is a common practice for jurisdictions to equip their Radio
Officers with a radio pager. We recommend this practice.
(Any level calling for mutual aid assistance usually requests a
specific number of personnel, the personal skills required, and
the type and quantity of communication equipment required. A
Radio Officer or agency should not put out a call for "all
available Amateurs report to --- ."
Whenever possible we will try to pre-alert jurisdictions to the
possibility of a mutual aid callup so that you will be better
prepared with an answer if and when you are called. In major
incidents that are common knowledge, you should survey your
resource availability before you are called for mutual aid. Then,
if possible or appropriate, report to the next higher echelon
Radio Officer what you have willing and able to re_spond; i.e.,
city to county, county to State OES Region, Region to OES
Headquarters. Many mutual aid requests may come direct to State
OES Headquarters (from CDF, USFS, etc.); it helps us a lot when
we have heard from those Regions that have RACES resources
available to respond. Those Regions with hams ready to go will
usually get the nod.
There are increasing requests for ATV (Amateur TV). Radio
Officers should develop who and where they are on their data
base. We also request that all ATV teams be reported now to your
State OES Region Office so that we may build an ATV data base.
What is re_quired are the principal contact names and
telephone/pager numbers.
All Radio Officers (at all levels) should include all ARRL EC's
(Emergency Coordinators) in their resource data base. There are
many hams whose services are available only in a crisis or on an
infrequent basis and choose not to be a member of a RACES unit.
This is why we urge all hams to register as Disaster Service
Workers so that they can serve without any administrative delays.
By the same token, we expect ARRL EC's to keep RACES officials
posted with any information necessary to achieve and maintain
close coordination.  RB015 and 016

HOW TO HELP YOUR RADIO OFFICER
Emergency management agency managers frequently ask what your
Radio Officer should know. Many of the subjects have been covered
in past Bulletins. Several Radio Officers have recently suggested
the importance of their knowing about, understanding, and
cooperating with the other public safety communications managers
in your government. This will help to enable your volunteer
communications resources to fit it in better than if they are
held aside as a last resort, when all else fails, or a doomsday
resource. Such RACES units usually fade away not too long after
being organized. If they are an outside group, they may not be
equipped with adequate training and preconditioning from you and
your jurisdiction. Any volunteer is only as good as the training
he or she seeks and receives. We have heard from many Radio
Officers who support the premise that they are of more value when
they gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the
public safety communications systems in their area. They are
en_couraged to become members of their local Associated
Public-Safety Communications Officers chapter. Some jurisdictions
pay the APCO dues for their RACES Radio Officer and broaden the
scope of their duties to include all volunteer communications
services. We know of several people who have entered the public
safety career field in this manner.  RB166

RADIO OFFICERS AND ASSISTANTS.
Every RACES radio officer in every jurisdiction should have at
least two alternates. There are several reasons for this.
1. A radio officer cannot perform satisfactorily around the
clock.
2. No individual should be indispensable.
3. The alternate, or assistant, radio officers should be used in
key staff positions responsible for such activities as training,
operations, administration, records and so forth. Every position
should have depth.  RB86-17.

Compilers note:  The following RB 207(l992) is included with
additional data:

QUESTION:  To have a RACES unit for our government, we need to
only appoint a RADIO  OFFICER, right?
REPLY:  That's a start, but there's more to it than that.
The Civil Defense or Emergency Services Director, or designee,
appoints the Radio Officer. Then it's the responsibility of that
Radio Officer to appoint (as a rule) assis_tants and/or
alternates which should be subject to your approval for reasons
to be indicated.
Initially the Radio Officer thinks in terms of communications,
but as the relationship between the emergency management agency
and the Radio Officer deepens, the astute Radio Officer finds
ways of assisting in the fields of administration, management,
and sometimes even in that of affecting short and long range
policies.
 In general, we think in terms of three levels of responders to
any type of emergency:  Level 1 is fully registered, trained, and
serves on a regular, frequent, staff basis.  The Level 2
volunteer is registered, likely untrained and often intermittent
in participa_tion.  Level 3 people are unregistered, training
uncertain, not at all interested in be_longing to the government
agency, but willing to come out and 'help' at times of his/her
own choosing.  What is said here refers only to Level 1 people.
The well selected Radio Officer, like the well selected paid
staff of the agency, is fa_miliar with the span of control and
selects assistants who specialize in specific activi_ties: such
as administration, operations and technical.  These key
assistants may well be properly subject to your approval as the
appointing authority since in some instances you may have to work
directly with them instead of the Radio Officer (if he/she were
away, ill, or injured for example.)  Here, the position to which
the Radio Officer re_ports, or responds to, is the RACES
Coordinator (as well as what other title may apply locally).
With a minimum of oversight the Radio Officer should carry out
the day-to-day mat_ters; but with the clear understanding that
all policy matters should be approved first by the RACES
Coordinator. We encourage the creation of such depth in the RACES
orga_nization and finding means and ways to use the volunteers
besides just radio commu_nication operators and equipment
providers! --Cary Mangum, W6WWW, California Chief State Radio
Officer. RB 207

See Mgt: Radio Officer, Part 2