About two years ago, I was working Patrol with Sergeant Bryan Santy when he mysteriously disappeared to a detail called the Emergency Management Bureau (EMB).  I did not give this much thought and simply believed he moved on to the old Homeland Security Bureau to do super-secret homeland security stuff.  Life went on for me as a Patrol sergeant until Bryan was again reassigned, but this time to the Air Support Detail.  A vacancy emerged in the EMB, so in July 2010 I submitted my Request for Change of Assignment to go to the detail.  Low and behold, I was selected and reassigned to the EMB to take Bryan’s place as the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant Manager.

In a short amount of time I came to realize that the EMB was a world like no other.  Procurement, comingling funds, supplanting, sub-recipients, UAWG, HSGP, UASI, MMRS, RACES, SHSGP, ACAMS, COOP—WHAT DID IT ALL MEAN?  I was befuddled with amount of technical jargon and bureaucratic red tape that was involved in managing a grant.  I was also surprised with how little other Anaheim employees knew about the EMB and the federal UASI grant it was designed to manage.

After 10 months of walking the hallways looking dazed and bewildered, I have finally reached a point where I can actually make sense of most things EMB.  Thanks to the help of Sergeant Santy, Lieutenant Hittesdorf, a cast of other “grant geeks,” and a lot of reading, I am able to provide you a basic explanation of what the EMB is all about.     

What is the Emergency Management Bureau and Who is Assigned to the Unit?

The EMB is an Anaheim Police Department work unit that functions under the Special Operations Division.  Previously known at the Homeland Security Bureau, the EMB was managed by Lieutenant Ben Hittesdorf until recently.  On April 29, 2011, Lieutenant Tim Miller took over this responsibility as the EMB Lieutenant.  I supervise the day-to-day operations while two investigators, Trace Gallagher and Ryan Tisdale, manage regional homeland security projects with funding from the UASI grant.  Staff Analyst Kerrstyn Vega is the office’s Fiscal Coordinator with responsibility for handling all financial aspects of the UASI grant management process.

For a few years, the EMB was located at the East Station.  However, in 2010 the EMB relocated and began sharing office space with members of the Santa Ana Police Department’s Homeland Security Division.  Currently, the EMB is located at the Santa Ana Police Department in the Homeland Security Division office.  Sharing workspace with members of SAPD, EMB personnel and SAPD personnel co-manage the UASI grant.  In addition to managing the grant on behalf of local agencies, the EMB is also responsible for preparing Incident Action Plans, creating Tactical Alerts, and managing large-scale events for the City of Anaheim.

What is the UASI Grant?

The UASI grant is just one of several federal grants funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  With over $12 million dollars awarded annually to the Anaheim/Santa Ana Urban Area (ASAUA), the ASAUA is responsible for accomplishing DHS grant goals for the entire Urban Area which consists of all public safety agencies in Orange County.  The close collaboration between Anaheim PD’s EMB and Santa Ana PD’s Homeland Security Division is designed to effectively use grant funding to better prepare the region to prevent, protect, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism. 

With the ultimate goal of addressing acts of terrorism from a regionalized, collaborative perspective, the EMB’s role is to ensure that decisions to fund projects not only fall within the scope of the grant, but that they collectively benefit agencies throughout the county.  Such projects include the funding of staff positions and computer technology for the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC), purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) for the county’s first responders, and subsidizing the COPLINK networks so information can be shared among participating agencies.

In addition to countywide projects, the EMB has been intimately involved with projects that more directly affect the city of Anaheim.  Through its role as a UASI sub-recipient, the EMB has directed funding towards constructing security enhancements for the Anaheim Convention Center, the Honda Center, and Angel Stadium.  It also funded the purchase, installation and training involved with Angel’s camera downlink system which enables computer end-users to access video images transmitted from the helicopter.  Other funding included the purchase of Digital Receiver Technology (cell phone locator), Anaheim’s Mobile Command Post Vehicle and the Bear armored vehicle.  Moreover, through the leveraging of UASI training funds, the EMB has been responsible for sending Anaheim police officers to Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO) courses, a number of tactical response courses, and technical courses such as explosives training at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center in New Mexico.

As one can see, the EMB has had its hand in funding a myriad of countywide projects with several of them having direct impact on our city.

Making the Grant “Sing” for Anaheim and the County

It is only natural that the different agencies throughout the county have different agendas.  Each city is faced with a different population makeup, different economic status and a different political climate.  Balancing the demands of police, fire and public health agencies can be a daunting task given the fact that each agency has limited resources and the annual UASI grant award is a finite funding source.  The ASAUA, but more specifically the EMB, has the very difficult job of coordinating competing interests in order to allow the grant funding process to function effectively.  The EMB does this through the referencing of historical knowledge, understanding strict Federal, State, and County grant guidelines, making sound fiscal decisions, and most importantly, effectively communicating with all its stakeholders.  These stakeholders include representatives from individual municipalities, State agencies such as the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), and federal agencies such as DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

By understanding the individual needs of each stakeholder, the EMB is in a position to more effectively coordinate all the moving pieces of the machine called the UASI grant program.

The Bottom Line

In a nutshell, the EMB does two basic things:

1.       In conjunction with other City departments, manages emergencies and large-scale events for Anaheim

Star Sapphire Camera and Video Downlink System