DERT INFORMER “Happy Holidays and a Safe and Prosperous New Year!” In This Issue • Engaging Tenants in Prepared- ness • Winter Safety • Dallas ALERT • Business Continuity Plans • Welcome Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall • Training Links—Weather Links— Helpful Hints—Other Resources • 2018 Public-Private Partnership Symposium Planning Holiday Awareness All Year Long Downtown Dallas, Inc. celebrated another year of Downtown Wanderland. This event ran from November 30 to December 16, 2017, with movies, pop- up shopping, as well as holiday crafts and workshops. There were also cultur- al events including “Cultures of Candlelight” and “Santas of the World”. Downtown Wanderland continued to partner with DART and D-Link to provide safe and easy transportation for visitors and residents to enjoy the events. Dallas Police and Dallas Safety Patrol were on hand to ensure public safety and security to the thousands of participants in this event. All residents and guests were encouraged to keep vigilant for suspicious activity as they participated in holiday events in Down- town or wherever they celebrate the season or shop. Anyone witnessing suspicious ac- tivity is continuously encouraged to call the Dallas Police “See Something. Say Some- thing” tip line at 214-671-4TIP (4847) or to report through the iWatch smart phone app—www.iWatchDallas.net. These programs help prevent crime, which makes everyone safer. Participat- ing in these programs is a year-round priority to everyone. Downtown Dallas, Inc. JANUARY 2018
Transcript
DERT INFORMER
“Happy Holidays and a
Safe and Prosperous
New Year!”
In This Issue
• Engaging Tenants in Prepared-ness
• Winter Safety
• Dallas ALERT
• Business Continuity Plans
• Welcome Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall
• Training Links—Weather Links—Helpful Hints—Other Resources
Downtown Dallas, Inc. celebrated another year of Downtown Wanderland.
This event ran from November 30 to December 16, 2017, with movies, pop-
up shopping, as well as holiday crafts and workshops. There were also cultur-
al events including “Cultures of Candlelight” and “Santas of the World”.
Downtown Wanderland continued to partner with DART and D-Link to provide
safe and easy transportation for visitors and residents to enjoy the events.
Dallas Police and Dallas Safety Patrol were on hand to ensure public safety
and security to the thousands of participants in this event.
All residents and guests were encouraged
to keep vigilant for suspicious activity as
they participated in holiday events in Down-
town or wherever they celebrate the season
or shop. Anyone witnessing suspicious ac-
tivity is continuously encouraged to call the
Dallas Police “See Something. Say Some-
thing” tip line at 214-671-4TIP (4847) or to report through the iWatch smart
phone app—www.iWatchDallas.net.
These programs help prevent crime, which makes everyone safer. Participat-
ing in these programs is a year-round priority to everyone.
Downtown Dallas, Inc. JANUARY 2018
Engaging Tenants in Preparedness Emergency preparedness is a whole-community activity that’s scalable from the individual to the largest corporation. Many of Dallas’s downtown buildings have prepared for emergencies by completing and submitting their pre-incident plans, but do the tenants of your building know what to do if something happens? Are they ready for emergencies? What can you do to engage your tenants in preparedness?
Tenant Preparedness
• Share any emergency notifications/information with tenants via phone tree, text, or email. Encourage tenants to register with Dal-lasALERT—www.dallasalert.com–to register their phones for city emergencies.
• Encourage tenants to create emergency kits in case they are instruct-ed to stay in place. Videos and checklists are available at www.dallasemergencymanagement.com.
• Encourage hosting/attending a disaster preparedness class by resi-dent organizations or businesses in your building to learn more about local hazards, building a kit, and making a plan.
• Provide materials to tenants, such as seasonal fliers/infographics in the elevators to keep them in the preparedness mindset.
• Make sure evacuation routes are clearly marked and exercised on all floors of your building and have options for access and functional needs.
• Encourage tenants to have their fire extinguishers and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors checked for proper function on a regular basis.
To learn more about what emergency preparedness materials are availa-ble, contact the Office of Emergency Management at 214-670-4275 or request a presentation through: http://dallascityhall.com/departments/officeemergencymanagement/Pages/Request-a-Presentation.aspx
Winter Safety
Texas weather is ever-changing. Winter cold can strike at any time. Be ready with these tips:
Stay indoors as much as possi-ble.
Be careful with heaters or fire-places to reduce fire risk.
If you have to be outdoors, dress in layers to stay warm.
Watch for ice on sidewalks and driveways. Walk or drive care-fully.
Don’t leave kids or pets in the car unattended.
Check on neighbors or cowork-ers who are older or have ac-cess or functional needs.
Bring pets, plants, and people indoors when its cold.
Emergency Preparedness
Dallas ALERT
Do you have a way to get
information quickly if there’s
an emergency? Dallas OEM
has several ways for every-
one to receive notifications
in case of emergency.
DERT and OEM operate
systems to notify groups
within the CBD in case of
emergency. Check with your
facility managers and securi-
ty directors on how your
building sends out notifica-
tions.
Outdoor warning sirens are
a first line of information, to
tell those outside to get in-
doors. Traditional media, like
television and radio is the
next line of defense, as are
wireless emergency alerts
(WEA) through cell phone
carriers. You can also regis-
ter to receive notifications to
cell phone, text, or email
through our Dallas ALERT
system.
Check the website:
www.DALLASALERT.com for more information on how
to receive warnings to your
mobile device or email. You
can also go by OEM’s web-
site:
www.DallasEmergency
Management.com for
more information .
Business Continuity Plans
Disasters are a matter of when not if. Many organizations focus on preparedness and response, but how many have added recovery to their plans? The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) calculates nearly 40% of small businesses never reopen after a disaster and large organizations can be highly impacted as well. The time to think about recovery is before the emergency happens.
A key component to recovery is a Business Continuity or a Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plan. These plans are exactly what they infer—a plan for how your organiza-tion continues to function after a disaster.
Elements for a business continuity plan include:
• Emergency Preparedness Kits—having supplies on hand in case those in your organization are unable to leave your building or evacuation plans if you need to go. These kits also include back up documents for your vital information.
• Communication Plans—do you have a way to contact your team or employees in case your building or facility is inaccessible? Is there a notification system in place—phone, text, email—to let your team know what’s going on, where to go, or what to do?
• Succession Plans—if one of your key team members is unable or unavailable to do essential functions, do you have a back up for that individual?
• Alternate Locations—Do you have a back up location or a work-from-home plan and is that communicates? Are your people equipped to work from a remote location?
• Documentation Backups—is your vital information backed up somewhere acces-sible if your building or servers are not? Have more than one way to access your materials—either in a cloud or in external hard drives in a go bag or some other manner.
Sample plans and templates are available online. Having a well-thought out and prac-ticed continuity plan can make all the difference when it comes to recovery.
Business Continuity Plans
As we start this new chapter in the life of the Dallas Police Depart-ment, I want to start by thanking everyone in the community for your warm welcome and support. The first three months have al-ready been a whirlwind.
I am a true believer in “excellence” with the certainty that the com-munity we serve expects nothing less from its police department.
Before coming to Dallas, I had more than 18 years of law enforce-ment experience to include 12 years at the management and exec-utive level at the Detroit Police Department. My career began in Detroit, Michigan, with a community of 700,000 people and approx-imately 3,100 sworn and civilian employees. In Detroit, I command-ed the largest Bureau that included the Neighborhood Policing Bu-reau, East & West Patrol Bureaus, Downtown Division, and Metro-politan Division with more than two-thirds of the total employees and a Bureau budget of 137 million dollars.
My focus in Detroit was creating community policing and mentoring programs that developed and fos-tered partnerships between officers, community members and businesses alike.
I am working hard to transform the Dallas Police Department to reflect 21st Century Policing by streamlining the department’s organizational structure to improve efficient workflow between units, and strengthen effective policy processes. I have prioritized community engagement and outreach by connecting with officers in the field, meeting with Dallas community groups, professional leaders, and local organizations.
Another focus for the department moving forward is recruiting. The department has engaged innova-tive recruitment strategies, which include working with the independent school districts and local col-leges to generate a student pipeline, and internship program. I have increased internal accessibility to my office, and I am currently overseeing several General Order and policy changes within the depart-ment.
We place tremendous value on public safety and community engagement with the understanding that it is a shared responsibility and that the police cannot do it alone. We need your support, input and feedback to ensure the Police Department is moving in the right direction to address the needs of the community we protect and serve. When the community and the police department embrace each oth-er and work alongside each other, we operate as one Dallas. Therefore, I stand eager and ready to roll up my sleeves to continue our journey in making Dallas the safest community in the country.
Thank you!
CHIEF U. RENEÉ HALL
Welcome Dallas Police Chief, U. Renee Hall
—Training Links—
http://www.preparingtexas.org
http://www.fema.gov
http://www.nctog.org/ep/training
—Weather Links—
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/radio.html
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/skywarn.html
—Other Resources—
http://www.knowhat2do.com
http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit
http://www.dallasalert.org
http://www.dallascert.com
http://www.domesticpreparedness.com
Training Links—Weather Links—Helpful Hints—Other Resources
