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POLICE DEPLOYMENT IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS CAUSED BY THE ABUSE
OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION1
Dragan Mladjan, Vladimir Cvetkovic
Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies, Belgrade, Serbia
Abstract: In their line of work police officers face a large number of emer- gency situations-criminal incidents related to hazardous materials that can be abused as the weapons of mass destruction. Deployment of police officers in cases of terrorist attacks has its specific features, since it is carried out in extreme circumstances with outstanding dangers to life and health. Apart from the emergency medical service and fire and rescue units, the police have a decisive role in the elimination of consequences of such incidents. In these emergency situations, police staff offers primarily assistance to the injured persons, prevents the expansion and elimination of consequences of the emergency situation, and pays considerable attention to the criminal processing of the scene of incident. Apart from giving the overview of police officers deployment in priority tasks, this paper also gives a comprehensive review of their position in the emergency management system, where the emergency situation has been caused by the abuse of this destructive weapon.
INTRODUCTION
The combat against international terrorism is no longer a matter of ideology, as the terrorists cannot be persuaded that they live in a democratic society and they will not calm down until they have accomplished their projected terrorist goals. Having such a difficult situation in mind, protection and rescue forces2 must be adequately prepared for reacting in emergency situations3 caused by the abuse of weapons of mass destruction used for terrorist purposes. Authorities in charge of planning defense against terrorist attacks have finally realized that planning a response to incidents that are very likely to happen instead of mak- ing plans of everything that might happen was not an appropriate approach, and the consequences were catastrophic. Terrorists’ imagination exceeds all the thoughtful boundaries, and is so versatile that anything could be expected from them. Secondary explosive devices that are set up in such a way that they are detonated after the arrival of the police4, fire and rescue teams and emergency medical service units, as well as the attacks by automatic weapons on the mass of bystanders gathering at the incident scene, represent only a small piece of the pervert terrorist conception (Heyer, 2006).
During their work police officers face a large number of criminal incidents related, directly or indirectly, to hazardous materials that may be abused for terrorist purposes. Protection and rescue forces, primarily police, emergency medical service and fire and rescue units have a decisive role in the elimination of consequences of emergency situations caused by these weapons. Procedures of these forces at the scene of the terrorist incident consist of priority rescue of the injured, as well as of prevention of the expansion of further consequences – bringing them under con- trol, which are complicated for the reason of contamination – pollution of the incident scene caused by the use of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weap- ons. The fact of the additional complication itself which occurs during the activity of protection and rescue forces, make at the same time these terrorist organizations abuse these weapons (Taylor, 2000).
EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Emergency situations caused by the use of weapon of mass destruction (WMD) represent the incidents that require realization of special measures by one or more intervention services and generally include the participation of a large number of rescue officers (Mladjan, 2009:255). Such a chaotic condition at the site of a terrorist attack involving a large number of protection and rescue forces gives motives to the terrorist organizations to perform secondary attacks. The consequences of the abuse of these weapons could be catastrophic, and thus the end of the XX and the beginning of the XXI century can be called a global anarchy of the weapons of mass destruction (Bajagic, 2007:206). The scenario that took place on September 11, 2001, showed that even small groups of individuals are capable of provoking massive human casualties and material damage.
Terrorist organizations use various kinds of weapons, where all these weapons can be classified into four categories (Heyer, 2006:3): conventional weapons and explosives; nuclear and radioactive weapons; chemical weapons and biological weapons.
Contrary to conventional weapons, these weapons possess such unique features that make them very attractive for terrorist acts. Namely, they represent any weapon intended for or capable of causing death or severe bodily injury to a large number of people (Hawley, Noll, Hilderbrand, 2002). Weapons of mass destruction (CBNRE) in a narrow sense of words include nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons, as well as their agents. In the broader sense, they include all toxic chemical agents, if used as a means or a target of an attack, all micro-organisms and their products, if they are a means or a target of an attack, all industrial plants products- ing toxic chemical materials and micro-organisms in their production process, as well as all warehouses and traffic and transport means serving for warehousing and transporting, but being a target to military or terrorist acts or means for accomplishing determined goals.
The sources of materials that can be used for the production of these weapons are not easy to find due to rigorous security measures of their protection (Bowman, 2007). The only way in which one can get them is a theft, illegal transfers by sponsoring states. Also, terrorist organizations can develop them by using materials that have a twofold purpose.
The terrorist organization Al Qaeda has developed plans for the construction of explosive radioactive devices (dirty bombs), but it is also trying to make the uranium-based weapons. Efforts of terrorist organizations in making weapons of mass destruction on their own have been aggravated by the facts such as insufficiency of adequate infrastructure and resources that are usually available only to the states.
Since September 11, 2001, concerns have grown due to the fact that the terrorists might be able to get and use the weapon of mass destruction and thus cause more severe material and human destruction in order to accomplish their political goals. Regardless of how high or low is the likelihood that a terrorist attack might occur, the threat is real as the members of criminal groups will not stop searching for ad- equate weapons that could make possible the realization of their projected goals.
POLICE TASKS IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS CAUSED BY THE ABUSE OF THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
During the emergency situation caused by the abuse of weapons of mass destruction, the police have a key role in the process of identification of the terrorist attacker, as well as in the elimination of consequences of emergency situation. The main objectives of police procedures at the scene of incident are self protection, saving human lives and preservation of the scene of a terrorist attack (Burke, 2007:358). Police have acquired such a position and role on the basis of their jurisdiction and scope of work, organization’s ability to adjust to the newly created circumstances and intermittent performance of different security-related tasks on the territory of the whole country, including the possibility of an efficient additional expert training. Due to the nature of the work that they perform, the number of employed officers and equipment, the police are capable of reacting efficiently and timely, as well as of activating other stakeholders from the protection and rescue system, and the local community as a whole (Maric-Tomic, 2010). Protection and rescue forces that are the first emergency responders at the scene of incident, should manage the scene of the terrorist attack5; victims, bystanders and cooperative volunteers; hazardous materials6 and terrorists.
Police officers are by the nature of their profession, in charge of securing the scene of incidents. However, in emergency situations (ES), the final result of the police deployment will depend on these characteristics, the manner of approach to the scene of the terrorist attack and the way in which the dangers have been tackled. (Burce, 2007:338).
In all the countries around the world, the jurisdiction and scope of work of the police have been defined by laws and by-laws. However, in terrorist incidents, the tasks assigned to the police are often wider than the legally defined jurisdiction and depend to a great extent on the very situation at the scene of attack. In Germany, police have the following tasks in emergency situations7: giving warning to the
- It is a location where an action has been undertaken or failed, as well as the location where a conse- quence has occurred, completely or partially (Article 17, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Law).
- Hazardous materials include all those materials whose characteristics may provoke consequences det- rimental to health or environment, due to unskillful and irresponsible work, or due to any other incident during their production, transport, storage or handling. We often use as synonyms the terms “dangerous goods” and “hazardous materials”, which is not correct.
- PDV100–“Führung und Einsatz der Polizei” Teil I–“Leitlinien für den Einsatz der Polizei bei größeren Schadenlagen.
population about the dangers; protection of lives, health, environment and material goods; blockage of the endangered site; providing free passage for vehicles that are taking part at the protection and rescue actions; cooperation when saving people in jeopardy and provision of a safe place for them; police measures in traffic; pro- tection of property; prevention of thefts; identifying a cause of death; identifying unknown helpless and dead people; accommodation of the injured; making reports on the accommodation of the injured; investigation of the course and cause of the incurred incident, especially for the purpose of determining eventual criminal acts; determining the suspects and eye-witnesses; surveillance.
Given the legal role of the police8 in the Republic of Serbia, police tasks impor- tant for the protection of citizens in all types of emergency situations9 can be condi- tionally divided into groups of tasks from the public security jurisdiction providing:
-
- Provision of a security system by using measures and activities from the framework of regular jurisdictions, by adjusting these activities to the in- curred changes in the legal regime, due to the emergency situations in place;
- Provision of conditions for the execution of functions of other state bodies, legal entities or citizens when these stakeholders are disabled for executing their functions and roles in emergency situations. In case of use of the CBRNE weapons during the war actions10 that affect the population, organizational units of the police, together with the competent units of the civil protection, will be deployed in various tasks concerning protection and rescue of the endangered population, where priorities must be taken into account. Based on these legally determined police tasks, we can say that in emergency situations caused by the abuse of weapons of mass destruction, the police execute to a great extent their regular tasks, though under aggravated circumstances.
- The Law on Police (Article 2) (the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No 101/05, 63/09 – Decision of the US and 92/11) also gives a definition of the activities of the Ministry of the Interior that are in function of providing public security, and include undertaking the measures that are necessary for the elimination of the immediate danger to people and property, when these measures cannot be undertaken in a timely manner by other authorities in charge; providing assistance to the state administration organs, the organs of the territorial autonomy and local self-government, legal and natural entities, in case of general danger caused by natural disasters, epidemics, or other types of destruction: ordering evacuation from the area or facilities in question. Police participate in these activities as well and offer rescue and first aid services to the population. Also, Article 15 stipulates: “If the Government of the Republic of Serbia decides that it is not otherwise possible to provide public order or protect the health and lives of the people, it can give an order to the Minister: 1) to restrict or prohibit movement in certain facilities, certain areas or in public places; 2) to prohibit settlement in certain areas or abandonment of certain areas; 3) to order evacuation- abandonment of certain areas or facilities.
- The Article of the Law on Emergency Situations stipulates that: “The Ministry of the Interior executes the following activities in the field of protection and rescue during the emergency situations: “Provide participation of the police and other organizational units of this Ministry in the realization of measures and accomplishment of protection and rescue tasks.”
- The Law on Police (Article 14) stipulates that police, according to their scope of work set up by the Law, make preparations for action during the emergency situation or the state of war. During this emergency situation or the state of war, police execute tasks from their scope of work in such a way that they adjust their organization, forms and methods of work to the newly created changes, in compliance with the Law and acts made for the purposes of eliminating this emergency situation, and the state of war. The use of material and technical means, infrastructure, land and objects of the police during the emergency situation or the state of war, is planned by the police. The equipment and means acquired on the basis of material obligation can be allocated during the emergency situation or the state of war for the execution of certain tasks of the police. The police adjust their preparations and tasks for the state of war with the Ministry in charge of defense.
ACTIVITIES OF POLICE OFFICERS FROM THE CALL UNTIL THE ATTENDANCE OF THE SCENE OF INCIDENT IN THE EMERGENCY SITUATION CAUSED BY THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Police officers receive the first pieces of information about the incident through a direct observation 11 or via numbers 92 and 93 (emergency services). The following indicators can represent the grounds on which a policeman being on duty can conclude that an emergency incident has occurred and suspect that the terrorist attack may have happened12: numerous reports from the people about persons who felt sick or were injured in an unusual way; a large number of people with the same symptoms asking for help; a lot of calls from the same geographic region or from mass rallies reporting about unusual health problems; symptoms indicating exposure to chemical substances (tearful eyes, lack of air, breathing difficulties, irritation of eyes, nose, throat, redness or itching of the skin); reports concerning small explosions with slight damages; suspicious devices and equipment; personal protective equipment that is thrown away (masks, gloves, clothes); plants and animals died under inexplicable conditions.
Police officers attending the scene of incident must be ready and trained to recognise these indicators. However, it is always so obvious that a scene with dangerous surroundings is in question, i.e. that an emergency situation has occurred as a result of the abuse of this destructive weapon. Numerous emergency situations caused by hazardous materials and the abuse of the weapons of mass destruction are re- ported as cases of fires, road accidents, technical interventions, etc. Police officers who find themselves at the scene of incident can confirm that the abuse of the weap- ons of mass destruction has occurred, according to the following indicators (Levy, 2010): information provided by a citizen who is reporting the case or by a service in charge in a police station or any other operations centre; unusual colors, sounds, smells or clouds; visible chemical reactions or release of hazardous liquids or steam and smoke; alarms coming from the fixed and portable equipment for monitoring; tables, labels and lists of hazards from containers and other vessels; people flee from that area; illnesses and injuries that can occur due to contamination only.
Before approaching the scene of incident, police officers in the field must pass the information of utmost importance for further proceeding to the service in charge, urgently and without delay (Law enforcement officers guide for responding to chemical terrorist incidents, 2003): if it is the open or closed area; the type and kind of hazardous material (if they do not know, it is necessary to describe the tables, labels and lists of hazards or anything else that could help with the identification of a hazardous material); whether there are any injured and how many of them; the approximate size of fire or release of the chemical substance; the consequences on the environment; which actions are currently in place; whether there are any suspicious criminal activities.
They must also inform the service in charge in a police station about the following: the types of injuries and symptoms; the assessment of the number of fatalities; the size of the endangered zone; the direction of wind and tracks for a safe access; the information about witnesses. After the report has been made by the service in
- Patrol and constable activity enable an immediate insight into the state of security in a patrol and constable area.
- Law enforcement officers guide for responding to chemical terrorist incidents. Prepared by the U. S. army soldier and biological chemical commands improved response program for the department of justice office of justice programs, January 2″”3.
charge in a police station, police officers must be provided a safe access to the very scene of incident (Levy, 2010:2-7): activities carried out by police officers (criminal processing) must be methodical, but not hasty; they should always have safety in mind; the scene of the emergency situation is accessed from the direction of the wind, upwards; they must not drive through liquids or clouds of gases and vapors; they must be at a safe distance and use binoculars; police vehicles should be parked out of the scene of incident and be prepared to leave it quickly; they should prevent the blockage of other vehicles of the protection and rescue forces; they should be ready to react to secondary terrorist attacks.
After a police patrol has arrived to the scene of incident, their self-protection becomes a priority issue. Before approaching closely to the scene of emergency situation, police officers should do the following (www.icpprogram.org): inform pro- tection and rescue forces, request additional units and other necessary assistance; protect themselves; keep a distance (at least 200 m behind, in the direction of wind unless the headquarters in charge has decided otherwise); it is necessary to know the level of protection provided by the protective clothes; they should not enter into closed areas; they should avoid physical contact with victims; they should coordi- nate the action with the fire and rescue team and also with the emergency medical service; if possible, they should identify the nature of the problem; they should con- sider possibilities of existing secondary hazards in the endangered zone.
Timely recognition of a type of a hazardous material is of ultimate importance for the safety of policemen. Also, it is very important for the first police officers who have arrived to the scene of incident to try to be indirectly involved in rescuing people (which is very difficult), organizing also other people to do that, as well as to do the scouting and make assessment of the situation and inform their superiors form the police station about all these issues.
Given that a very serious emergency situation, with a hazardous environment, is in question, officers from the service in charge must take care about the policemen taking measures in the field. None of the calls is as urgent as the one coming from the injured policeman and a policemen asking for assistance. They have to react ur- gently in the following situations: sudden interruption of contacts with policemen who are already in the field (police officers securing the site of incident and traffic police); policemen who are reporting signs and symptoms of exposure to the effects of hazardous materials; automatic alarm signals (an alarm button in the radio sta- tion) coming from the area of the site of the emergency situation.
Police officers, who have arrived first to the scene of terrorist incident, carry huge responsibility and are under big pressure. They find themselves in a chaos, and must establish peace. These first intervention units must make an assessment of the situation, secure themselves and manage the oncoming means necessary for the elimination of consequences of the emergency situation caused by a terrorist incident.
Terrorist attacks automatically imply the deployment of more various services that can have different responsibilities, though they all have common goals. The usual duties that must be carried out by the police in emergency situations, which are the result of terrorist incidents, include (Kramer, 2009:22): coordination of work with other services; securing the scene of incident; identification of victims; collec- tion of information; launch of an investigation of the emergency situation.
Therefore, the primary role of the police during a terrorist incident is the coordination of work of other protection and rescue forces. Police will usually coordinate all activities that are taking place at the very scene of incident, as well as in its vicinity. Finding the appropriate services, establishing communication, setting up one’s assignments, etc. is not at all an easy task to do in the emergency situation. Securing
the scene of incident does not necessarily have to be a priority to other services, but it is of great importance to the police. In order to secure adequately the scene of the terrorist incident for investigation purposes, it must be previously observed and ac- curately identified (Krivokapic, 2005).
Securing the scene of the terrorist incident is a very important action that is taken with the aim of preventing the very scene of incident from sustaining mate- rial changes before the investigation has been done, as well as in order to enable the work of other protection and rescue forces. It understands prohibition of access to all unofficial persons, as well as no entry and motion within the circled area. How fast the police officers will have the scene of the terrorist incident secured depends on the level of organization, technical equipment, preparedness, work discipline of police officers who are part of these security teams. Securing includes several simultaneous actions and procedures such as: setting up and blocking of the site of terrorist incident; removal of all persons from that area; offering assistance to victims of the criminal act; ensuring trails and objects of criminal acts against their modification and destruction, if such a danger is currently threatening; keeping eye-witnesses and executors until the arrival of the prosecutor; having informative talks with the suspects.
Securing the scene of the terrorist incident is very complicated as it involves ad- justment of other goals, such as: prevention from further spreading of detrimental consequences, and occurrence of new damages; offering assistance to the injured; regulating movement of people and vehicles in the closer and wider zone of the incident; enabling the work of different rescue teams; special protection of certain trails and objects.
In an agreement with other protection and rescue forces, police officers make cordons (blockages). Namely, the scene of the terrorist incident is divided into the following zones: restrictive zone, a zone with a limited access and a safe zone. The restrictive (inaccessible, forbidden, exclusive, red, hot13) zone is the area which immediately surrounds the scene of the incurred incident and is spread at a distance sufficient to prevent detrimental effects of dangers14 from the released hazardous materials on people outside that zone (it is the most endangered – pol- luted – contaminated part of the inner cordon for the police organization) and can be accessed exclusively by the fire-rescue unit, police and other specialized units with a special equipment. This restrictive zone has one entrance and one exit (con- trol of access) in order to prevent any entry without protective equipment. Police officers make the control of victims’ objects and also the control of the suspects. Due to limited possibilities of work while in a personal protective equipment, it is necessary to make planned replacements of police officers.
The zone with a limited access15 (area of the reduction of contamination, yellow, warm, offering specific types of help and assistance) leans on the restrictive zone and covers the area where there are no detrimental effects-pollutions from the released hazardous materials on people, but where the equipment and people coming out from the restrictive zone can be contaminated. This zone serves for decontamination of people and equipment and offers the support to the staff deployed in the restric- tive zone. It is also necessary to use appropriate personal protective equipment in this zone. From the point of view of police organization, these two zones together make the inner police cordon (blockage) that has a limited number of places (control points
- EPA Standard Operating Safety Guidelines, OSHA29CFR 1910, 120, NFPA472.
- According to the EPA Standard Operating Safety Guidelines, the zones of danger from inhaling haz- ardous materials are divided into four groups (A, B, C and D), regarding the LC50 (Lethal Concentration for 50% of the population (50% of population is dead), in a determined time period of exposition of the population).
- EPA Standard Operating Safety Guidelines, OSHA29CFR 1910, 120, NFPA472.
– posts) for entry to and exit from this zone. Police officers from this zone control the mass and assist the firemen-rescuers in the process of isolation of victims, according to the rules governing the priorities for assistance and decontamination.
The safe zone (supportive, clean, cold, green16) is the area in which there are no pollution (contamination). Conditionally, the safe zone has two sub-zones: 1. a part containing equipment and devices of all services taking part in the interven- tion, of operations and integrated headquarters for intervention management, of a developed system of emergency medical assistance (triage system, field hospital, a landing area for helicopters, etc); 2. a part of the traffic cordon aimed at preventing unauthorized access of vehicles into the scene of incident, where the media room is located (sometimes media people can be located together in a part of the zone, in the vicinity of the headquarters) and also gathered people and families of the casu- alties17. Special protective clothes are not necessary in this area, though it is wise to have them at hand in case of a wind blowing or other unforeseeable circumstances. This common zone has two cordons: 1) outer police cordon with an appropriate number of control points-posts between the sub-zones which contains the equip- ment and devices of all deployed services, headquarters and the landing area for he- licopters, and the boundary of the traffic cordon, 2) a traffic cordon, that is located out of the outer cordon and is aimed at preventing the unauthorized access of ve- hicles to the area surrounding the scene of incident (pedestrian activity is forbidden in this zone). The appropriate number of control points – posts is also located at the rim of the traffic cordon, aimed at regulating access to the scene of incident. Secur- ing the place of terrorist incident is carried out by means of cordons for the follow- ing reasons: protection of the scene of incident, protection of the public, control of the passers-by, and prevention of unauthorized interference with the investigation and facilitation of work of the emergency services. It is very important for the police to check all suspicious objects in all three cordons. Police must register all its officers entering into the inner cordon at the place that may be called a gathering point. The task of the traffic police is to provide the corridors for the movement of vehicles of the emergency services at the scene of incident, and also alternative driveways for access and evacuation. It also has to regulate traffic in the wider environment. Traf- fic police determine, organize and regulate traffic at the gathering point for the ve- hicles and equipment of rescue teams. If terrorism has been confirmed as a cause of the emergency situation, police, i.e. special police forces must undertake additional protection measures in order to prevent the consequences of the secondary terrorist surprises. Police participate in the process of identification of the dead and victims, determine and secure the place for a temporary disposal of corps of the deceased.
In emergency situations such as this one, police have a priority role and fire-res- cue units should have consultations on security issues with the representative of the service competent for the combat against terrorism. In emergency situations with terrorist incidents or in cases such situations are suspected, all deployed services in the intervention must be aware of the possibility that there may have been installed some secondary devices for the execution of the terrorist act.
In case the terrorist has fled from the scene of incident, immediately before the arrival of the authorized officials or at the moment of their arrival, the primary task of police officers will be to undertake immediate search in order to find and catch the executor even on condition of changing the state of facts at the scene of incident, of course, if there are reasonable grounds for a fast finding and arrest of this terrorist.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
PROCESSING OF THE SCENE OF INCIDENT OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION CAUSED BY THE ABUSE OF THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION – DATA COLLECTION
The top priority police procedure in this emergency situation is certainly data collection18. Police officers more often face the hazardous materials during their work. Data collection in a dangerous environment requests compliance with a large number of procedures and can also require the additional staff. Apart from all the complications in the work with pieces of evidence, crime scene technicians are obliged to wear personal protective clothes. Training regarding wearing of personal protective equipment must be carried out before the ter- rorist incident.
Police officers involved in the criminal processing at the scene of the terrorist incident must follow standard rules governing the whole structure of the evidence material. Work with the evidence material in a dangerous environment requires specific training and methodical approach. If the rules concerning the evidence material have not been observed, that could lead to the overruling of this evidence material in a court proceedings and release of the suspect.
Evidence collection process (Hawley, Noll, Hilderbrand, 2002) includes: prepa- rations (carry out appropriate training of staff in charge of evidence collection, pre- pare necessary paper work and laboratory); access to the scene (the staff allowed to enter must be adequately prepared, in physical terms, and must consider all the aspects of the personal security. In this phase, it is necessary to provide a search war- rant from the court or other warrants from the authorities in charge); securing and protection of the scene of incident (it is necessary to identify the zones of dangers, obtain information from the first intervention units, be confident that the scene is safe); beginning of the preliminary research – scouting – (in this phase, the initial visit by the team of scouts is carried out, accompanied by a detection and control of hazardous materials, as well as by an assessment of the working conditions. Initial photos and a rough sketch are also being made. After the visit, the team of scouts returns to the safe zone in order to share information with the team leader); as- sessment of possibilities for material evidence (after the information from the team of scouts have been obtained, it is necessary to establish the type of the evidence material, check if the quantity of equipment for collecting and packing is sufficient. When entering into the restrictive zone, volatile evidence material is collected first); preparation of the negative description (before the collection of the evidence mate- rial has started, a description of the scene of the terrorist incident is prepared, in- cluding all the information related to the initial examination. It is usually prepared by the team leader or anyone appointed by him. This is for sure a continual process); present the scene of incident by means of photographs (it is necessary to make pho- tographs of all the evidence material before the process of sampling has started. It is necessary to take pictures of the entrance area, then of the scene of incident, from near and far, with and without scaling. All the photos must be entered into the diary. They can help with the preliminary research and making of the plan of sample tak- ing; prepare a diagram sketch of the scene (the orientation of the evidence material can be seen in the sketch. It contains: date and time, but is not scaled, legend, orien- tation to the north, evidence material and appropriate measurements); carry out a
- The evidence includes statements of the persons, objects or trails that confirm or refute the relation of a person with the criminal act or with the offenders, or indicates the truthfulness or falsehood of any other disputed fact that is in relation with the criminal affair. The ultimate end of evidencing is the resolution of the criminal act, i.e. a successful start and end of the criminal proceedings.
detailed search (it is based on the assessment of the evidence material and is carried out starting from the general to the specific. It is compulsory to make photographs of the objects before collecting them); note and collect material evidence (it is necessary to follow the evidence collection plan. Evidence material that may be lost or destroyed must be collected first. It is necessary to make a decontamination of the evidence material. Evidence material should not be decontaminated directly, but it should be packed so that it could not get wet or sustain any damage. Therefore, only the outer layer of the package should be decontaminated. Decontamination should be organized in phases, such as: initial rinsing, soap and scrubbing, rinsing and dry- ing. Problems which the staff in charge is facing with during the decontamination process include: damage to the evidence, size of the evidence material, loss of identi- fication information; final search (all the staff participating in the search is consider- ing what has been done and whether the additional work is needed, and also note whether the whole evidence material and the equipment have been provided); it is also necessary to take pictures of the scene of terrorist incident in order to docu- ment the conditions of the scene after the search has been completed; leaving the scene of incident (give advice to the owner in terms of potential dangers, leave the scene of incident for further handling to the services in charge, make the transport of the evidence materials).
Priorities of the police team for evidence material include (www.icpprgram. org): identification of potential evidence material; preventing evidence material from damaging; documentation of the evidence material; collection of the evidence material (by using an accurate, scientific, forensic and legal method).
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT OF THE POLICE AND DECONTAMINATION
Safety and health of all protection and rescue staff is of primary importance for an efficient elimination of consequences of an emergency situation (Kahn, 2004). Even if the prevention of exposure to hazardous materials often makes a primary concept, police must consider the threats from potential terrorists at the scene of in- cident, without neglecting the stress from work incurring from the personal protec- tive equipment19, state of physical and mental condition, as well as from appropriate procedures of decontamination based on the volume and size of the emergency situation (Kayem, 2003). Emergency situations including hazardous materials im- ply work in a dangerous environment20 that may pose an immediate danger to the lives and health, and which is not obvious or can be easily identified as such.
Protection measures intended for police officers can vary depending on the tasks that should be accomplished, as well as on the very location at the scene of terrorist incident, and can be changed depending on the activities at the scene of in- cident. Protective means of the police staff depend directly on physical and chemi- cal characteristics of hazardous materials present at the scene of terrorist incident. Police officers deployed at the elimination of consequences of an emergency situa- tion that include hazardous materials can be contaminated in one of the following ways (Hawley, Noll, Hilderbrand, 2002): by inhaling, through respiratory system; by absorption through the skin; by swallowing; by injecting.
- Any type of clothes or devices that are worn by the protection and rescue forces in order to protect themselves from dangers that may be present at the site of terrorist incident
- This is the place which contains hazardous materials or other kinds of hazards, such as potential ter- rorists.
It is of priority importance that police officers participating in the intervention have clothes of a suitable level for their personal protection, as well as adequate equipment for the expected tasks. When selecting protective clothes, the type of material must be taken into account, as well as the strategy of response that should be carried out. The protective suits will change depending on several factors, but most often on the task, i.e. whether police officers will be given offensive, defensive tasks, or they will be taking certain measures and actions, with the absence of an appropriate intervention. Therefore, apart from the tasks, it is important to consider the following (Levy, 2006): a danger to be faced with; specific tasks that should be accomplished; a level and type of protective clothes that will be used as a psycho- physical condition of the user of protective clothes. Police officers will be facing with a large number of dangers and detriments at the scene of incident, such as: thermal (coldness and heat); radioactive (alpha, beta, gamma, X rays, neutrons); chemical (corrosive and toxic materials); biological (pathogens carried in the blood and bio- logical toxins); mechanical (danger of sliding, stumbling, explosion, being hit by objects); suffocation (lack of oxygen).
Personal protective equipment represents any kind of clothes or devices that are worn by the protection and rescue forces in order to protect themselves from dangers that may be present at the scene of terrorist incident (Hawley, Noll, Hilder- brand, 2002). Undertaking of operational-tactical measures and actions by the po- lice will require a certain kind of respiratory protection, as well as the protection of the skin. Wearing personal protective equipment can generate considerable mental and physiological dangers, especially if these forces are not used to wearing person- al protective equipment. Consequences of wearing can be manifested in different ways, such as claustrophobic reactions, hyper-ventilations, stress from heat, tactile dermatitis and reduction of physical ability. Working time under personal protec- tive clothes is limited. Also, there are a large number of restrictions, such as stress from heat, limited mobility, limited visibility, and difficult communication. In order to be adequately protected during the undertaking of necessary measures and ac- tions, police officers should do the following: make the assessment of the danger; carry out health control; choose suitable equipment; carry out the training program.
It is very important to mention that no chemical clothes offer protection from all the kinds of hazardous materials, and that there is practically no protection from a large scale radiation, as the majority of these clothes offer a weak or no protection at all from heat and fire. There are several general factors that affect the selection of the sets of protective clothes, which concerns the persons, missions and the envi- ronment where certain measures are taken. Chemical protective clothes consist of a suit, gloves and boots. It is necessary to carry out decontamination at the scene of incident, the aim of which is to ensure the safety of deployed protection and rescue staff and the public by lessening the quantity of contamination on persons, equip- ment and the living environment. Decontamination itself must be set up properly and be undertaken in cooperation with the tactical operations of the police. De- contamination in the emergency situation should be a part of each action plan for terrorist attacks. Decontamination of a large number of people will be a challenge for the protection and rescue forces. One of the most important methods of decon- tamination is certainly taking off the clothes. 80% of the contaminating substance is removed by taking off the clothes. On the other hand, rinsing by water in the dura- tion of three minutes offer extraordinary effects in the removal of the contaminat- ing materials. Decontamination should be carried out quickly and without delay.
CONCLUSION
Readiness and preparedness of police officers for reaction in terrorist attacks will be put to the test many times in the forthcoming period. The future brings big- ger challenges for police readiness and capability to combat these attacks properly. Conventional weapons easily give way to more lethal descendents. As the most im- portant security service, police must be ready to respond to emergency situations brought about by the abuse of the weapons of mass destruction. In order to fulfill all that is expected from it in such situations, police must have developed action procedures, trained staff and appropriate equipment. Police officers must be trained for work in dangerous environment and understand well their own role at the scene of terrorist incident. Each police officer has to be ready to identify the indicators of a terrorist attack so that he/she could undertake further operational-tactical mea- sures and actions, in an adequate manner. Authorities in charge of strategic plan- ning of police activities should certainly recognize future security requirements and react timely and accordingly.
This paper is the result of the realization of the scientific-research project named “Development of institutional capacities, standards and procedures for combat- ing organized crime and terrorism in conditions of international integrations”. The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (No 179045), and is carried out by the Academy of Criminal- istic and Police Studies in Belgrade (2011-2014). The leader of the project is Profes- sor Sasa Mijalkovic, PhD.
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