The TriData report made more than 80 “recommendations for the future based on the lessons learned.”
Suggestion for theaters (2 items)
• To improve patron safety, theaters should consider putting alarms on emergency or secondary exits, and preferably monitor them by video surveillance. Having a voice communications system to inform people about emergencies also is important in an emergency. Additionally, theater complexes should be able to quickly switch off the movies and turn on the lights in each theater, to facilitate exiting and improving visibility in an emergency.
• Inform the public on appropriate measures if caught in a shooting situation.
Re: police response (23 items)
• Revise pre-incident planning and training for an active shooter or bomber.
• Plan and practice unified command for complex incidents.
• Clearly identify who is the incident commander
• Train several more fire or police personnel as SWAT paramedics.
• Keep paths open for ambulances, and discuss access issues with fire/EMS as they occur.
• In addition to wearing protective vests, uniformed officers should carry active shooter armor kits
• Officers assigned to patrol should have a tactical medical kit (like IFAKs).
• Police should broaden their training on use of gas masks, if not already done.
• Reduce noise and light stressors at incident scenes as soon as possible.
• Stage mutual aid assistance forces when their help is not needed for the active shooting portion of the incident.
• Develop agreements for air support for critical incidents; consider procurement of a low-cost Remotely Piloted Vehicle (drone)
• Activate the ICS and establish a unified command as soon as possible.
• Designate someone not involved in the incident to be responsible for the remainder of the city when the senior commander is focused on a major incident.
• Locate the command post at a safe distance and maintain a scene safety zone.
• As the incident unfolds, a police command officer not directly involved in management of the incident should be designated as the Safety Officer
• Specialized command vehicles or trailers should be reserved for commanders to use, and not be taken over by public information officers
• Officers can make use of “smart phone” note taking and video capability.
• Harmonize designations for building sides.
• Consider use of mutual aid resources to reduce lab overloads.
• When possible, fatigued officers exposed to high levels of trauma should be relieved by officers who were off-duty when the incident occurred.
• Defer report writing until officers have had time to recover.
• Make sure the scene is secure
• Be prepared to set up officer, firefighter and EMS decontamination and hydration stations.
Re: Paris Street apartment (3 items)
• Make the size of the safe area match the threat.
• Know the available bomb disposal resources.
• Plan for interpretation services in real time.
Re: emergency medical services (14 items)
• During a mass casualty incident, command should announce when the scene is reasonably safe for EMS to proceed
• As noted earlier, there needs to be an Incident Safety Officer quickly appointed who should pay particular attention to the access or egress of emergency vehicles
• The Incident Commander should quickly appoint a Staging Area Manager
• Dispatch and incident commanders should consider calling for multiple fire or EMS units as strike teams or task forces when large numbers of responders or equipment are needed
• When access is difficult, police, fire or other agencies may have to physically guide ambulance units into the scene.
• In situations where immediate transport of patients is warranted, use of police or other emergency vehicles is appropriate when ambulances are not immediately available
• Ensure that the new active shooter protocol remains a “living document”
• Aurora public safety providers should adopt a triage identification system that includes color-coded triage ribbons for patients
• Continue to implement NIMS and ICS throughout the Aurora public safety system.
• The AFD should further integrate RMA into the ICS process,
• EMS ICS position vests should be used to identify those placed in key ICS positions.
• Appoint Treatment Dispatch Managers under ICS
• Pay closer attention to completing ICS forms and transportation records
• Aurora Police Department should consider expanding the EMS scope of practice for police officers, especially for gunshot wounds
Re: public safety communications (20 items)
• Foster more integration of planning and exercises among public safety communications, fire and police
• The Communications Department should hold regular inter-department interoperability communications drills with all three agencies—police, fire, and public safety communications.
• Empower telecommunicators to use their judgment in a large-scale event, and to suspend the usual protocols when they are inefficient or troublesome.
• In a mass casualty incident, there is likely to be a second surge of calls from family, friends and media following the initial emergency call surge.
• The Communications Department should prepare to provide relief to its telecommunicators for a long duration incident.
• As recommended in other chapters, establish a unified police, fire and EMS command, or at least face-to-face communications at a command center, as early as possible
• The radio system needs to be reconfigured to make it simpler to use its interoperative capabilities.
• The scan feature on radios is not effective during a critical incident;
• Consider installing both police and fire radios in police and fire command vehicles.
• A backup inter-department communications systems such as cell phone direct connect should be considered.
• If not already available, consider purchasing a small number of satellite phones that do not rely on cell phone sites and will work at almost any location.
• Provide a way for mutual aid units to monitor Aurora police talk groups.
• Dispatchers should be empowered and encouraged to, with tact, recommend or suggest and, if needed, direct Incident Commanders to undertake actions in support of the management of an operation
• Do not rely on mobile terminals in vehicles for critical incident communications
• If not already done, program into the Aurora Intergraph CAD system all Denver fire/EMS units, private ambulances, and public medical care facilities.
• The Communications Department now has a combined police-fire major incident dispatching area
• Communication Department staff, as well as police, fire and EMS personnel, must be versed in the use of NIMS and ICS,
• After this incident, the city acquired a toll free number
• CISM needs to be available to telecommunicators and their managers as well as to first responders.
• A debriefing for Communications Department personnel should be conducted soon after a major event.
Re: public information (5 items)
• The processes that the city used to manage and provide public information should be institutionalized in its major incident response plans.
• Establish a Public Information Command Post remote from the crime scene in a major incident.
• A Joint Information Center should be established when there is a major incident or other disaster
• Decisions or planned information actions should be well coordinated in advance with other affected city departments
Re: incident command (6 items)
• Having the senior police and fire command personnel operating at a single incident command post would greatly enhance inter-agency communications.
• A unified command approach would likely be the best option
• Multi-casualty (EMS) Branch. Staff with EMS Officers from mutual aid agencies
• A staging area should be designated early in the incident
• Equipping police ICS personnel with command boards, ICS forms, and similar materials
Re: emergency operations center (3 items)
• The City of Aurora should consider changing its organizational structure for emergency management
• The OEM Coordinator should be notified as soon as a critical incident occurs
• There were not enough phones and computers for all the representatives in the operations centers, and the communications were not recorded since many people were using their personal devices
Re: aftermath (11 items)
• Do not allow even good-hearted volunteers without family assistance training to have easy access to families and victims
• Once a family advocate is assigned to a victim or family, it is best not to eliminate that advocate, even if another advocate needs to be added per legal protocols.
• Be prepared to explain to families of victims why identification of the deceased takes so long
• Include in a mass casualty plan options for receiving and distributing large amounts of donations likely to flow in to help victims
• Victim Services should consider scheduling leave so that there are not too many advocates on leave at the same time.
• There should be a lead advocate assigned to each hospital that receives victims, to coordinate all victim advocates responding to that location.
• In a major incident, designate an area near but not immediately adjacent to the family reunification center where people can gather without interfering
• Designate a special area where clergy can assemble within the family reunification center.
• Establish one central file on victim information to avoid multiple files with conflicting or incomplete information.
• Promote the successful concept of assigning PIOs to families of the deceased victims
• Do not require first responders who worked at a traumatic incident to work their immediate next shift, especially if those become 12-hour shifts.
