"TWICE THE CITIZEN"
USAR ORGANIZATIONS
Army Reservist teaches Emergency Management in Sarajevo
By Maj. Juan A. Pina
First published in
SFOR Informer #81, February 16, 2000
SARAJEVO -- The Law Enforcement Support Team of the SFOR Civil-Military Task Force provided training on concepts of Emergency Management Jan. 17 to Feb. 4 to selected staff members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Canton of Sarajevo.
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| Lt. Col. Kevin Kille (U.S. Army Reserve), assigned to the Law Enforcement Support Team of the Civil-Military Task Force, conducting the course at "Novo Sarajevo" police station. (Photo: Maj. Juan A. Pina) |
Army Reserve Lt. Col. Kevin Kille, assigned to the Law Enforcement Support Team of the Civil-Military Task Force at HQ SFOR, Camp Butmir, conducted this training in downtown Sarajevo at the "Novo Sarajevo" police station. The students were members of the administrative staff of the Ministry, and police chiefs and supervisors from police stations in the Canton of Sarajevo. Among the students were the Minister of Internal Affairs and his Assistant for the Uniformed Police. The training course consisted of 14 classes given over a period of five days. There have been three repetitions of training, with a total of 75 personnel receiving it.
The purpose of this course is to introduce to local police members the concepts of Emergency Management, so they will be able to establish an Emergency Management organization in the Canton. "In the future, we hope that other Cantons will follow this example, and ultimately, we would like to see this established at entity level," said Kille.
Kille, has a military occupational specialty (MOS) in Civil Affairs, and is a Reservist. His "real" job is working with his state government as a planner and incident responder with the Delaware Emergency Management Agency.
Emergency management organizations, at all levels of government, are responsible for coordinating and controlling emergency response organizations, such as police, fire fighting, medical, and military units, in their response to emergencies. The training during this course is based on Emergency Management concepts used by the governments of the U.S. and France.
The types of emergencies which need this co-ordination are those which require more than one type of response organization, are too large for local organizations to handle, or those emergencies or disasters spread out over several government jurisdictions.
He emphasized that it is given only as a suggested way to organize emergency management in government." I do not tell anyone that the way taught is the only way. There are many possible ways of applying these concepts, and it is up to the individual governments to decide what is best for them."
According to Kille, this is an example of SFOR doing something to help the Canton of Sarajevo become organized and better able to protect property and save lives in the event of a disaster or catastrophe. This is SFOR ultimately making the country a better place for their people and helping them learn to function independently
Email Webmaster: webmaster@ocar.army.pentagon.mil Revised: March 16, 2000