Recent developments have focused new attention on the vulnerability of the US critical infrastructure to dangerous events like terrorism. This means that there must be mechanisms put in place to support the activities of public transportation with an emphasis on the importance of developing relationships that are critical and creating funding priorities (Novak, 2006). There must be effective planning and wise spending in order to make public transportation infrastructure more secure. The first step in ensuring transit safety and creating policies for security systems in public transport is through the building of a vision. There are major incidents that happen in the public transportation arena like accidents, fires, floods.
Terrorist attacks and gang crime occur and during these incidents, there is always united response from various agencies and disciplines that help in the management of the crisis. Some of the management mechanisms include rescue, evacuation, traffic control, helping in transportation of the victims and the responders, communication with the media and restoration of service. Due to the building of vision in the provision of security in public transportation, the management of emergency in public transportation has been evolving constantly especially because of the incorporation of lessons that have been learnt from some of the previous occurrences and the preparation for facing new threats (Novak, 2006) .
Over the past number of years there are gains that have been made but they have required tremendous input and management initiative, financial investment and coordination between vicarious agencies. In many agencies, however, there has been shortage of operational upgrades especially due to delays in resources and personnel provision and this has really affected the requirements for preparedness. The industry should be willing to experiment and share information in order to get ideas of alternatives that can be used to improve the transit systems in public transportation. The constant building of visions will help the industry to maintain the security and help in the management of emerging threats by reinforcing a very powerful tradition for security management (Novak, 2006). This calls for preparedness in this industry that is diverse through the identification of the security challenges and tailor made practices that can help to address the diverse operations and the services that have provided more than 10,000 local systems of public transportation.
The development of a security and emergency preparedness program can help in giving guidance on how transportation systems in the public realm can be used to improve other systems of internal security, management of incidents and other plans for coordination with the local law enforcement systems and enhancing disaster response management systems. Terrorism is one of the major threats to public transportation and there are basic principles that should be applied in order to counter terror activities in public transportation (Novak, 2006). One of the basic principles is the capability assessment support to enhance the efforts of the systems of transportation that are geared towards evaluation of the existing levels of security and the emergency preparedness programs that are there in the system. This will help in the reduction of terrorism and other threats that abound in the transportation system and also the vulnerability of the system to these disasters. The best way of approaching this is by conducting a threat and vulnerability assessment which will emphasize the techniques that can support the recommendations that are important to the needs of every system of operation. This can help in the management of threats in a new realm of public transportation like management of risks posed by bombs, managing the problems of hoaxes and packages that are out of place.
It can also manage chemical attacks and the dissemination of the emergency information to the members of the public. The other important aspect being addressed in this proposal is the provision of training and supervisory programs that can be easily updated or reviewed. This is because of the heightened conditions that pose new and dynamic requirements (Shepherd, 1998). The best way to approach this is by the integration of these activities of public transportation systems to some of the community based exercises and development of full scale exercises, drills and table tops. Design strategies can be incorporated in order to enhance security in public transportation for both the emergency and normal operations. Some of the considerations that are supposed to be made to enhance that kind of technological design include procurements that are geared towards creating measures of threat reduction especially through creation of awareness in order to promote familiarity in the spectrum of threats (Maxwell, 1992).
While creating security measures, it is important to ask questions whose answers will greatly create a response mechanism in the public transport system. Some of the questions include, what type of weapons can the criminals use against the public transport system, how can the mechanism identify an incident in the public transportation that is biological or chemical, what are the specific conditions that the operators, maintenance personnel and the users of public transport system should observe and how effective transportation can be in the eyes of the community (Shepherd, 1998). The procedures for training and reinforcement should be provided to all the stakeholders involved especially the employees so as to ensure that they comprehend what an unusual event is like and how they should respond to one like that. The managers should show commitment to the development of internal procedures that can help in addressing the above questions and for handling the reports of activities that are unusual, strange objects and should therefore encourage the enforcement of the procedures. These procedures can be integrated into the day to day operations and may have additional benefits like the improvement of the overall internal security mechanisms.
The improvement of coordination from the inside and the reports from outside can encourage better housekeeping systems for the quality of life issues that emanate from the disasters. For maximized benefits, there should be consistency in the approach of the system to the critical issue of security and awareness (Shepherd, 1998). There would be a lot of drawbacks in the program if the managers are just passionate about the importance of security in public transportation but fail to deliver, support and encourage the employees or the stakeholders who make reports of the incident because this waters down the whole system. The security mechanism should be responsive to the resources that are available. These Principles should be applied in order to counter terror activities in public transportation.
One of the basic principles is the capability assessment support to enhance the efforts of the systems of transportation that are geared towards evaluation of the existing levels of security and the emergency preparedness programs that are there in the system (Shepherd, 1998). This will help in the reduction of terrorism and other threats that abound the transportation system and also the vulnerability of the system to these disasters.
The events of the September eleventh put emphasis on the responsibility of the industry to keep the communities of the nation moving safely (Stopford, 1997). The transits systems are by nature exposed to open environments. They are designed to move people quickly through an area in the urban set up and therefore should provide uninhibited and easy access to the users of the system. Additionally, they are supposed to provide low cost transportation choices to everyone. Over the past number of years there are gains that have been made but they have required tremendous input and management initiative, financial investment and coordination between vicarious agencies. In many agencies, however, there has been shortage of operational upgrades especially due to delays in resources and personnel provision and this has really affected the requirements for preparedness. The industry should be willing to experiment and share information in order to get ideas of alternatives that can be used to improve the transit systems in public transportation.
The federal and state governments and other local partners should be willing to support the homeland security that is vital for urban transportation because it promotes security advancement and programs for preparedness. The other factor is the readiness for managers to make decisions that border on the trade offs that are inherent in the cost, mobility and security by the use of the existing sophisticated processes of risk assessment (Shepherd, 1998). Something that is not new to public transportation industry is the defense against terrorism and the work to address credible threats from the menace that is terrorism started in the late eighties. Even before the September eleven, al Qaeda attacks in the United States of America, the bombings of the public transport systems in urban areas of the Middle East, India, Europe and Latin America had already shown the vulnerability of the public transport infrastructure to a wide range of activities of terrorism. These experiences should continue to inform plans, exercises and trainings that will sustain the industry preparedness in the future years.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) should improve its support for security programs through intensive research, training and issuing of guidelines for transportation safety. The forty nine, CFR 659 that requires all agencies for rail transit to document their preparedness and security should be reviewed to ensure that security plans programs are approved by the federal oversight authorities. The FTA should audit these requirements to ensure the plans of the agencies are timely and they tackle a wider range of contingencies. The FTA should also work closely with the federal disaster preparedness program to avert the consequences of a calamity like the one that happened in Japan after the Sarin release of the Tokyo subway that killed twelve people (Shepherd, 1998). Though there is the defense against weapons of mass destruction bill that started a program for the provision of training and tools of first response in the case of terrorism, there should be other stern measures that are actively implemented to cushion the countrys transit systems from any threat of terrorism. The public transportation police and personnel for operation should partner with the stakeholders of these security programs to a greater extent and participate in the anti terrorism training for land transportation. This is especially necessary due to the threat posed by the prevalence of WMD (Maxwell, 1992).
There should be community drilling plans and exercise programs that can become a significant component of the urban transportation preparedness for emergency. If this was in place prior to the September eleven attack, the effects of the attack would not have been magnanimous or even the terrorists would have had difficulties in planning the attack because they would have been restricted by the presence of such measures (Sunil, 2007). It is only after the attacks that the FTA began working closely with the transport industry. To respond to the new threats that are emerging in the transport industry FTA should launch a multipart initiative for transit security where there should be security assessments by the teams deployed by FTA. These teams should include experts, and anti terrorism personnel. There should be threat and vulnerability assessment programs in the tackling of the security issues that have afflicted the transport industry so that the emergency programs that are created have a focused review of the command structure that is unified. The FTA should use other agencies to help with the assessments so that it can concentrate with technical assistance for the emergency response systems.
It should connect with security forums to offer free preparedness training for the transit agencies to equip them with the basic skills of handling emergencies in the transport system. All in all, the country preparedness mechanisms may be standard but there need to be vigilant mechanisms to deal with every possible threat to the security of the urban transit transportation because the country is still vulnerable to security issues that afflict the public transportation industry. These watertight measures will not only improve the security in the transport industry but they will also deter potential criminals from executing their malicious plans. Perfect preparedness programs are also essential to deal with natural disasters like floods.
Terrorist attacks and gang crime occur and during these incidents, there is always united response from various agencies and disciplines that help in the management of the crisis. Some of the management mechanisms include rescue, evacuation, traffic control, helping in transportation of the victims and the responders, communication with the media and restoration of service. Due to the building of vision in the provision of security in public transportation, the management of emergency in public transportation has been evolving constantly especially because of the incorporation of lessons that have been learnt from some of the previous occurrences and the preparation for facing new threats (Novak, 2006) .
Over the past number of years there are gains that have been made but they have required tremendous input and management initiative, financial investment and coordination between vicarious agencies. In many agencies, however, there has been shortage of operational upgrades especially due to delays in resources and personnel provision and this has really affected the requirements for preparedness. The industry should be willing to experiment and share information in order to get ideas of alternatives that can be used to improve the transit systems in public transportation. The constant building of visions will help the industry to maintain the security and help in the management of emerging threats by reinforcing a very powerful tradition for security management (Novak, 2006). This calls for preparedness in this industry that is diverse through the identification of the security challenges and tailor made practices that can help to address the diverse operations and the services that have provided more than 10,000 local systems of public transportation.
The development of a security and emergency preparedness program can help in giving guidance on how transportation systems in the public realm can be used to improve other systems of internal security, management of incidents and other plans for coordination with the local law enforcement systems and enhancing disaster response management systems. Terrorism is one of the major threats to public transportation and there are basic principles that should be applied in order to counter terror activities in public transportation (Novak, 2006). One of the basic principles is the capability assessment support to enhance the efforts of the systems of transportation that are geared towards evaluation of the existing levels of security and the emergency preparedness programs that are there in the system. This will help in the reduction of terrorism and other threats that abound in the transportation system and also the vulnerability of the system to these disasters. The best way of approaching this is by conducting a threat and vulnerability assessment which will emphasize the techniques that can support the recommendations that are important to the needs of every system of operation. This can help in the management of threats in a new realm of public transportation like management of risks posed by bombs, managing the problems of hoaxes and packages that are out of place.
It can also manage chemical attacks and the dissemination of the emergency information to the members of the public. The other important aspect being addressed in this proposal is the provision of training and supervisory programs that can be easily updated or reviewed. This is because of the heightened conditions that pose new and dynamic requirements (Shepherd, 1998). The best way to approach this is by the integration of these activities of public transportation systems to some of the community based exercises and development of full scale exercises, drills and table tops. Design strategies can be incorporated in order to enhance security in public transportation for both the emergency and normal operations. Some of the considerations that are supposed to be made to enhance that kind of technological design include procurements that are geared towards creating measures of threat reduction especially through creation of awareness in order to promote familiarity in the spectrum of threats (Maxwell, 1992).
While creating security measures, it is important to ask questions whose answers will greatly create a response mechanism in the public transport system. Some of the questions include, what type of weapons can the criminals use against the public transport system, how can the mechanism identify an incident in the public transportation that is biological or chemical, what are the specific conditions that the operators, maintenance personnel and the users of public transport system should observe and how effective transportation can be in the eyes of the community (Shepherd, 1998). The procedures for training and reinforcement should be provided to all the stakeholders involved especially the employees so as to ensure that they comprehend what an unusual event is like and how they should respond to one like that. The managers should show commitment to the development of internal procedures that can help in addressing the above questions and for handling the reports of activities that are unusual, strange objects and should therefore encourage the enforcement of the procedures. These procedures can be integrated into the day to day operations and may have additional benefits like the improvement of the overall internal security mechanisms.
The improvement of coordination from the inside and the reports from outside can encourage better housekeeping systems for the quality of life issues that emanate from the disasters. For maximized benefits, there should be consistency in the approach of the system to the critical issue of security and awareness (Shepherd, 1998). There would be a lot of drawbacks in the program if the managers are just passionate about the importance of security in public transportation but fail to deliver, support and encourage the employees or the stakeholders who make reports of the incident because this waters down the whole system. The security mechanism should be responsive to the resources that are available. These Principles should be applied in order to counter terror activities in public transportation.
One of the basic principles is the capability assessment support to enhance the efforts of the systems of transportation that are geared towards evaluation of the existing levels of security and the emergency preparedness programs that are there in the system (Shepherd, 1998). This will help in the reduction of terrorism and other threats that abound the transportation system and also the vulnerability of the system to these disasters.
The events of the September eleventh put emphasis on the responsibility of the industry to keep the communities of the nation moving safely (Stopford, 1997). The transits systems are by nature exposed to open environments. They are designed to move people quickly through an area in the urban set up and therefore should provide uninhibited and easy access to the users of the system. Additionally, they are supposed to provide low cost transportation choices to everyone. Over the past number of years there are gains that have been made but they have required tremendous input and management initiative, financial investment and coordination between vicarious agencies. In many agencies, however, there has been shortage of operational upgrades especially due to delays in resources and personnel provision and this has really affected the requirements for preparedness. The industry should be willing to experiment and share information in order to get ideas of alternatives that can be used to improve the transit systems in public transportation.
The federal and state governments and other local partners should be willing to support the homeland security that is vital for urban transportation because it promotes security advancement and programs for preparedness. The other factor is the readiness for managers to make decisions that border on the trade offs that are inherent in the cost, mobility and security by the use of the existing sophisticated processes of risk assessment (Shepherd, 1998). Something that is not new to public transportation industry is the defense against terrorism and the work to address credible threats from the menace that is terrorism started in the late eighties. Even before the September eleven, al Qaeda attacks in the United States of America, the bombings of the public transport systems in urban areas of the Middle East, India, Europe and Latin America had already shown the vulnerability of the public transport infrastructure to a wide range of activities of terrorism. These experiences should continue to inform plans, exercises and trainings that will sustain the industry preparedness in the future years.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) should improve its support for security programs through intensive research, training and issuing of guidelines for transportation safety. The forty nine, CFR 659 that requires all agencies for rail transit to document their preparedness and security should be reviewed to ensure that security plans programs are approved by the federal oversight authorities. The FTA should audit these requirements to ensure the plans of the agencies are timely and they tackle a wider range of contingencies. The FTA should also work closely with the federal disaster preparedness program to avert the consequences of a calamity like the one that happened in Japan after the Sarin release of the Tokyo subway that killed twelve people (Shepherd, 1998). Though there is the defense against weapons of mass destruction bill that started a program for the provision of training and tools of first response in the case of terrorism, there should be other stern measures that are actively implemented to cushion the countrys transit systems from any threat of terrorism. The public transportation police and personnel for operation should partner with the stakeholders of these security programs to a greater extent and participate in the anti terrorism training for land transportation. This is especially necessary due to the threat posed by the prevalence of WMD (Maxwell, 1992).
There should be community drilling plans and exercise programs that can become a significant component of the urban transportation preparedness for emergency. If this was in place prior to the September eleven attack, the effects of the attack would not have been magnanimous or even the terrorists would have had difficulties in planning the attack because they would have been restricted by the presence of such measures (Sunil, 2007). It is only after the attacks that the FTA began working closely with the transport industry. To respond to the new threats that are emerging in the transport industry FTA should launch a multipart initiative for transit security where there should be security assessments by the teams deployed by FTA. These teams should include experts, and anti terrorism personnel. There should be threat and vulnerability assessment programs in the tackling of the security issues that have afflicted the transport industry so that the emergency programs that are created have a focused review of the command structure that is unified. The FTA should use other agencies to help with the assessments so that it can concentrate with technical assistance for the emergency response systems.
It should connect with security forums to offer free preparedness training for the transit agencies to equip them with the basic skills of handling emergencies in the transport system. All in all, the country preparedness mechanisms may be standard but there need to be vigilant mechanisms to deal with every possible threat to the security of the urban transit transportation because the country is still vulnerable to security issues that afflict the public transportation industry. These watertight measures will not only improve the security in the transport industry but they will also deter potential criminals from executing their malicious plans. Perfect preparedness programs are also essential to deal with natural disasters like floods.
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