Saturday, February 16, 2013

Correctional Facilities Mutual Aid Network

According to a report from McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren, significant progress has been made to establish a mutual aid network for correctional facilities similar to the one currently in place for law enforcement through the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS)
Adding a correctional component to ILEAS will provide Sheriff’s Offices and Correctional Administrators throughout the state the resources they will need in the event of an emergency within their facilities. “Disasters involving correctional facilities require a unique set of resources and skill sets, and it just makes sense to share those resources with one another,” said Sheriff Nygren. “It’s a resource that you hope you’ll never have to use, but have to plan for nonetheless.”
Officials from the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility met this past week with representatives from surrounding counties to discuss the status of the project and the next steps. Other than a minimal amount of administrative time to keep resources up to date, there are no costs for agencies to participate.
 “We’ve had many positive responses from other agencies who agree that this is a significant step forward in the area of correctional emergency management.” Deputy Chief Patrick Firman and Undersheriff Andrew Zinke are assigned as the project coordinators to work with the Correction and Law Enforcement components.

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