CRIMINAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION PREPAREDNESS
AND MAYORS AS "FIRST RESPONDERS"

WHEREAS, mayors are the elected leaders of their communities with responsibility for the management of public safety personnel including police, fire and emergency response; and

WHEREAS, mayors have dedicated significant effort to preparing themselves, their city personnel and their citizens for the possibility of natural disasters, and to efforts designed to minimize damage and save lives; and

WHEREAS, mayors have worked closely with regional, state and federal partners in developing coordinated preparedness efforts focused on natural disasters; and

WHEREAS, in recent years, the issue of domestic terrorism, and specifically a weapons of mass destruction terrorist attack, has become a concern for the nation as a whole and mayors as the leaders of their communities, with extensive discussion being held at national Conference of Mayors meetings and with top federal officials including the Attorney General; and

WHEREAS, managing a local weapons of mass destruction attack may be significantly different from a more traditional natural disaster in that:

• the scale of potential damage which could be caused by a weapons of mass destruction terrorist attack are enormous;
• there may be no warning prior to the attack, and it may take time for the "public health system" to determine that there has been an attack, with resulting medical ramifications;
• it will take time to analyze the specific nature of the attack agent, and to determine if medical treatments are available;
• it may be difficult to determine when the attack has ended; and

WHEREAS, it is estimated that it will take between 36 and 72 hours following an attack for full federal resources to be made available in a city; and

WHEREAS, a multiplicity of federal agencies have responsibility for helping cities prepare for a possible weapons of mass destruction event, and for the event management and event consequences stages of an attack, and an effort is underway to coordinate these federal efforts; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Defense has available important resources including equipment, personnel and supplies which can and must be utilized in the event of a weapons of mass destruction event; and

WHEREAS, in most cases, mayors do not control the "public health system." With the exception of some city and county publicly-owned and operated hospitals, the general public’s health care needs are met by private institutions, institutions which while regulated to a certain degree, are not strictly managed by local governments. However, it is the local health departments who will be alerted by these health care providers at the onset of a weapons of mass destruction event; and

WHEREAS, it is clear from modeling examples that the "public health system" will be quickly overrun by even a modest weapons of mass destruction event in a city of almost any size. While a citizen knows when they have been shot, or when their house has been hit by a natural disaster, they may not know how to tell if they have been exposed to a biological or chemical weapon. Hospitals and doctors offices will be overrun with not only the sick, but those who fear contamination; and

WHEREAS, the decisions made by mayors and their public safety personnel during a weapons of mass destruction event, such as the possibility of imposing travel restrictions or even local area quarantines, will have major ramifications for not only their cities, but for the public safety of the entire nation,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls for increased federal efforts to provide equipment and training to mayors and their public safety personnel to train and prepare for a weapons of mass destruction event, with a particular focus on communication systems inter-operability; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government should provide significant resources to develop a training curriculum specifically for mayors as the "first responders" to a weapons of mass destruction terrorist attack; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Department of Defense, in cooperation with other relevant federal agencies, establish an initiative to enter into agreements with cities to provide resources including equipment, personnel and supplies in the event of a weapons of mass destruction event; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government should assist in a coordinated training effort for private sector health care personnel so that doctors and nurses are able to quickly spot a possible attack, to identify the nature of the attack, and to know what public health steps are necessary; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Conference of Mayors specifically supports increased funding for a network which would improve a local health department’s response to biological emergency by providing resources for the coordination of services between the health department and other essential local agencies.