How to improve emergency responsiveness with management science
The 1960s was a critical time in the history of the US. Crime was very prominent in the streets during this period. Riots were very common especially due to the war in Vietnam. In this time frame too, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The US government thus tried by all means to reduce the increasing alarming rates of crime. The president by then, Lyndon Johnson, established a unit known as ‘The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice”. This commission was supposed to use science to come up with solutions to certain problems. It was supposed to use the computer to fight crime. Secondly the commission was to develop the emergency service deployment modeling and modify it. This included changing how police, fire trucks, and ambulances were deployed during emergency cases. The main aim of this project was to improve the handling of emergency cases and do it in the shortest time possible with as minimal casualties as possible (Green & Kolesar 2004).
To improve the emergency response mechanism, several measures were taken. In New York for instance, the mayor made a partnership with the RAND (Research and Development) unit, a unit that worked with the air force during the Second World War, to eliminate crime. RAND also came up with better methods of managing fires by creating a simulation model of fire fighting operations which was termed as very innovative. To improve on the existing strategies and make better ones, RAND brought in several experts. New York council also signed another contract with the FDNY (Fire Department of New York) in a bid to react quickly to fire emergencies. This was a very efficient and successful project (Green & Kolesar 2004).
Another measure was to commence a contract with the NYPD (New York Police Department). This unit was supposed to combat the high rates of insecurity and restore calm on the streets. The main objective for this department was to reduce the cases of crime that had uncontrollably risen (Green & Kolesar 2004). The most effective strategy in the NYPD was the allocation of patrol vehicles to police. This assisted greatly in curbing crime since the police would now react quickly to reported criminal incidences. In addition, a survey was conducted in 1969 by Sava on ambulances and their positioning. This was meant to better the ambulance service deployment in cases of emergency. Instead of ambulances being strategically placed in hospitals the proposal was to place them in strategic garages where emergency cases are very frequent. This would help reduce the number of loses through death due to delayed treatment (Green & Kolesar 2004).
The RAND faced serious opposition just prior to the establishment of the contract. Several city agencies thought that RAND was spying for City Hall. This gave it a negative reception at first. Also, the city’s chief finance officer Mr. Abraham, who was a candidate for mayor but lost to John Lindsay, openly opposed the RAND for his reasons. Other organizations criticized RAND a lot.
. The FDNY on the other hand, faced first hand challenges from 1963 to 1968. Fire alarms had unbelievably increased yet their fire fighting resources remained constant and unchanged. Another challenge faced by FDNY was endless false alarms which subsequently led to losses. Yet another challenge was that the FDNY was operating at 20% increase in expenses annually. Fourthly, due to the numerous cases of fire breakouts, some of the firemen were unintentionally overworked with some attending to over 8000 fire incidences annually. FDNY also had computerized their data but had not analyzed it for about five years. This made it increasingly difficult for the firm to administer to some of its obligations (Green & Kolesar 2004).
The NYPD also faced unlimited obstacles. First off all in the early 70s, it was portrayed as a very corrupt organization. There were numerous police corruption cases forwarded by the public and they were even prosecuted by the Knapp commission of 1972. It also faced serious allegations of discriminating the minorities especially the Blacks. Police brutality was another accusation. The mayor had even established a commission to look into civilians complaints of police violence (Green & Kolesar 2004). This yielded an extremely negative perception. In most cases, each police station was issued with one car. Moreover, these police stations received more than one case that demanded for quick attention and with one patrol car it was not possible to cover many such cases.
In between 1969 and 1989, emergency response classifications were developed and improved. This however declined greatly in the nineties. First the systems that had been developed in the 70s had addressed all the necessary changes that would cover quick emergency responses. Another possible reason as to why this declined is the general change in the financial positions of the country in these two periods. In the seventies and early sixties, crime levels were probably high due to the high levels of unemployment that were prevailing. In this period people would burn up their premises so that they could be insured (Green & Kolesar 2004). On the centrally, in the nineties, levels of unemployment were very low and the general financial environment was conducive.
This article enlightens me on the existence of security systems. Prior to this article I did not know the existence of any software that manages security systems. It also gives me insights on historical backgrounds of New York City’s security information. It has also made me understand the reason as to why some ambulances are placed in strategic places.
References
Green, A. & Kolesar, B., (2004) Improving Emergency Responsiveness with Management Science, California: LLC publications.
