Page 1 MGTOrg1C Version 1. 3 3/1/92 ORGANIZATION 1C. [Category: MGT] RACES PROGRAM MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS This is the first is a series of messages specifically for OES/emergency management agencies. They are the outcome of the most commonly identified problems between volunteers and some emergency management agencies at the recent Emergency Response Institute in San Jose. The use of Amateur Radio operators in a structured program by local governments is called RACES---Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. Every county in California should have a RACES unit. Legislative hearings in 1983 took the State to task for letting RACES disappear in most areas in California and directed the State OES to bring the RACES back on line and take its place with other local government volunteer programs such as those for reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers, volunteer firefighters, etc. RACES is a part of your government. It is not a separate, detached or outside organization. RACES volunteers are your government's deputy communications personnel, your reserve of Amateur Radio operators. They comprise a pool of skilled communicators with reliable and sophisticated radio systems at no cost to the government. They are entitled to the privilege of being enrolled in RACES in every county or community in California. RACES Radio Officers are appointed by the State, county and city emergency management agencies they serve. They are a part of the agency staff and expected to be treated as such. The Radio Officer should be provided a job description, provided the organization practices and policies, learn the relationships to other agencies, attend staff meetings, may be sent to training sessions/seminars, provided space to work and resources to carry out the management of a program that would otherwise be staffed by a paid posi_tion in past years. In short, the Radio Officer should be made to feel a part of your staff as would a paid employee. We, in turn, expect the same interest, professionalism and dedication from any RACES Radio Officer. We can appreciate that it may be difficult for emergency services managers to accept this if you have never had an unpaid volunteer on your staff. We can appreciate that it may be difficult for emergency services managers to accept this who have never had an unpaid volunteer on your staff. It can also be difficult to grasp the RACES program where it has been dead in many areas for up to 20 years. The State legislature has mandated that this oversight be corrected. This, coupled with re_duced budgets, makes the use of skilled volunteers in law enforcement, fire suppres_sion, search and rescue, and communications sound and practical. Amateur Radio operators are a valuable resource of skills and in-place communications systems and equipment at no cost to government. Their availability and usage is called the RACES program. In short, they are assigned directly to you or to whomever you have delegated the emergency communications function. RACES is managed by you or by the department to whom you have delegated the emer_gency communications function. The RACES Radio Officer is not a paper assignment just to place a name in a plan or a doomsday roster and then forget about it. We have, unfortunately, received reports of some jurisdictions where this seems to be the case. Consider these questions. Are you faced with any of these problems? 1. The OES agency does not understand the RACES program, lacks information, is mis_informed by outsiders, and/or is unaware that every county and State OES Region should have an active RACES unit. There are many city RACES units as well but, for good management reasons, we do not generally advocate new RACES units in cities of under 500,000 population. A particularly troublesome emergency management problem ex_ists if there are city RACES units in a county that has no bona fide county RACES pro_gram. Our office will he pleased to work with you to successfully overcome any of these shortcomings. Simply call us at (916)427-4281. 2. The RACES officer is not adequately fulfilling the expectations of the position. Have you provided a written job description? This office will provide model Radio Officer and Communicator job descriptions for the asking. 3. The RACES Radio Officer is not the right manager for the job. Can you rectify this problem through closer supervision, assistance from our office, or by replacing the individual? 4. Failure to integrate and maintain close and harmonious relations with ARES--the Amateur Radio Emergency Service sponsored by the American Radio Relay League. All ARES members should be enrolled in RACES, but the individual's preferences should be respected by categorizing each RACES member as 1st level response, 2nd level, and so forth. This is the job of the Radio Officer and his/her staff. 5. Failure to permit the RACES personnel to be used as frequently as possible in exer_cises, special events for training purposes, and real emergencies. Volunteers will not perform, and cannot be expected to perform, in the manner you expect if they are not either trained or used on a regular basis. 6. Radio Officer failing to stop by the office at least once or twice a month as a bare minimum. Failure to do so can excuse the OES agency from observing step number 7. Failure to do so will also doom your RACES unit and program to failure. 7. OES agency's failure to remember that the Radio Officer is a regular member of the staff and should, for example, receive distribution of all staff memos, pertinent cor_respondence, appropriate clerical support, and appropriate work space. The Radio Officer (or an assistant) is to be invited to staff meetings, conferences, appropriate in-government training, and other employee functions. The Radio Officer should have an "in" basket at the office. A well informed volunteer feels the pride of belonging and should serve with the same professionalism as paid staff. This office will meet with you and your RACES Radio Officer to discuss these and other subjects to create, improve, or maintain a proper RACES program. We await your in_vitation. RB87-12 to17 WHY SOME GOVERNMENTS WON'T USE VOLUNTEERS Here are some recent questions and answers at a multistate ARES/RACES conference: Q: "Our county government won't even talk to us. How can we make them setup a RACES program?" A: This is always a sticky issue with no single or simple answer. Here are some answers I have picked up around the country: 1. Too often a ham group has approached a local government, "Here is what WE are going to do for YOU." They may also infer that it will be done on their terms. They don't ask, "What can we volunteers do for you?" This is a sure way to turn a government off to volunteers. (Of course it helps to have done some local government homework so that you can have some professional suggestions based on local conditions -- not generalities based on distant suggestions or fill-in-the-blanks agreements.) 2. Headstrong or inflexible volunteer leadership may feel their perceived authority threatened if they feel they must answer to and be responsive to a higher local author_ity. This can preclude the coming together between the volunteers and the government in the first place. Or it can kill a new, trial program early on. The "us and them" syndrome has split apart more governments from their volunteers than anything else. 3. Government leadership is just as often at fault in this regard by saying, if effect, "I don't have time to fool around with the volunteers (or, I don't know how) and I don't want a volunteer on my staff. If I need those hams I just call in such- and-such group." Do you do that regularly? "No, because they don't know how we do things around here." Do you give them any training? "No, don't have time." Lip service. 4. A government official may say, in effect, that "We just spent 2 million dollars for a brand new professional two-way radio system with all the bells and whistles. What do we need you amateurs for?" Regrettably, that official is unaware that in a major emergency there will NEVER be enough radio communication circuits to support their needs for an unknown period of time. 5. A disaster management official had a run in with a tipsy ham volunteer. Ergo, all hams must be tipsy and obstreperous, right? Even though that official changed gov_ernments, the official has resisted all efforts to be provided Amateur management personnel that are above reproach. In cases like this where ANY Amateur Radio service program within the government is rejected, the alternatives are limited: a. Bring political pressure to bear from supportive higher authority within the same government. This has its obvious after action pitfalls -- unless you can find another department within the same government that wants and is willing to administer a RACES type program for the unwilling civil defense director. This is perfectly legal (FCC) since the CD director will or has delegated this CD function to one of the line depart_ments. The CD director (or by whatever local title) may not be aware that he or she can do this. The official may be tickled to delegate the "unknown world of Amateur Radio" to another official! This has worked successfully in hundreds of jurisdictions. b. Do nothing other than to wait for the responsible official to retire, be promoted, be transferred or be otherwise replaced. 6. "If I have to use Amateurs it will make me look bad." 7. "I don't have the time." Either the role of the trusted volunteer called a Radio Officer hasn't been accepted or, if it has, the concept is re_jected. Try the suggestion to delegate the ham radio communications program to another department; see 5a above. Q: "Can't the state bring pressure to bear to make this county have a RACES program?" A: No, not in most states. In our state the State can provide guidance and recommenda_tions but it cannot tell the counties what to do. Nor can we invite ourselves in to make suggestions. The county governments can invite the State to attend informational meetings with them and the hams or present a one day RACES seminar. The local hams often make this possible by persuading the county CD agency to conduct such an in_formation meeting or seminar. Salesmanship is the operative word. No local govern_ment HAS to have an Amateur Radio program; we simply show them why it is to their distinct advantage to have one. RB137 & 138 BILL OF RIGHTS FOR VOLUNTEERS 1. To be treated as a co-worker 2. To a suitable assignment 3. To know as much as possible about policy, people and programs. 4. To participate in activities. 5. To quality training 6. To sound guidance and direction 7. To proper working conditions 8. To promotion and a variety of experiences. 9. To be heard; to have a part in the planning 10. The right to recognition, through promotion and rewrd 11. Day-to-day expression of appreciation by professionals. Author unknown. It is good guidance for all. RB86-26 HOW DOES ONE JOIN THE RACES? QUESTION: How do I join a RACES unit? ANSWER: Contact your nearest civil defense or emergency management agency. The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service is a part of a municipal, county, or state government. This does not mean, however, that every such government has a RACES program. If your government does not have a RACES, we hope you refer any interested caller to the nearest jurisdiction that does have a RACES. RB162 VOLUNTEERS DEFINED It has become increasingly apparent that there are or should be two levels of RACES operators. A paper is now being written on the subject of various levels of emergency management agency volunteers. It will go into considerable detail because the word "volunteer" means different things to different people. Because some jurisdictions are having growing pains and administrative problems, it is appropriate to disseminate guidance in advance of the proposal now being studied. The proposal is to provide all volunteer Disaster Service Workers with a receipt of such registration. There are two levels of RACES operators in California. (The RACES section in any local government provides emergency communications support via Amateur radio in accor_dance with a written plan.) LEVEL 1 (or A) volunteers are key staff with on-going RACES duties for, and responsibilities with, the State or a local government in California. It is recommended that a local government photo ID card be issued this category of volunteer. A Level 1 volunteer chooses and agrees to respond to his/her agency when called upon with a priority over all other volunteer activities. For RACES, the State OES form 99 DISASTER SERVICE WORKER REGISTRATION AND LOYALTY OATH (or equivalent local government form) is required plus a local record check is required by most jurisdictions. A LEVEL 2 (or B) volunteer may be all other Amateur Radio operators choosing not to be a Level 1 volunteer. This group should, ideally, include every Amateur in a county that is not a Level 1. Only the OES 99 (or local equivalent) is required. No local government ID card need be issued. Level 2 RACES personnel have no duties, on-going assignments or responsibilities, and are not required to attend meetings or training. The purpose and intent is to register all Amateur Radio operators as Disaster Service Workers so that their services may be utilized by governments unprepared to register volunteers at or during a disaster or emergency. It is a State RACES policy not to use unregistered vol_unteers. RB013 (duplicated elsewhere also.) LEVELS OF VOLUNTEER RESPONDER ACTIVITY Here are some tips we'd like to pass along for dedicated and well organized public ser_vice volunteers. They are the people who accept the basic premise that, "Barring any higher personal priority, I will respond each time I am called out. I do this because this is what I really like to do." Volunteers in this "Level 1 or A" category are typically those in search and rescue, fire fighters, law enforcement reserves, the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service and certain other civil defense volunteers. Such volunteer groups are first line responders with a highly developed callout system. Their parent agency radio pages, telephones or otherwise signals the volunteers on each and every callout. This may happen from once to several times a month. The majority of volunteers, however, don't get called out anywhere near that often. Their chance to serve may be only once or a few times a year. This doesn't mean to say that their level of skills required is any less than the more frequent responders; it's just that the need for their services may be far less. Amateur Radio operators are usually in this category, whether they are in the RACES, ARES, or by whatever name. Let's call the volunteer head of this group the OIC or officer-in-charge. It behooves an OIC or his/her designee to be tuned in closely to the community emergency services, to be aware of what is going on most of the time, so that the OIC will know of any incident or threat that could use the services of their Amateur Radio operators -- ei_ther "for real" or simply as a training vehicle. It really can't be said often enough to volunteer groups: "More often than not, you have to request to be requested." This goes hand in hand with: "Out of sight is out of mind." Government agencies don't see their "deputy communicators" day in and day out. More often than not they don't really understand what it is you do, why frequent usage or training of the volunteers is important, or why the Amateur Radio emergency resource itself is important. The OIC (or designees) monitors what is going on and what is scheduled in the future, actively looking for opportunities to serve. When the OIC identifies such an opportu_nity, he goes to his supervisor in the parent agency and requests permission for the unit to participate. I have served on both sides of the fence over the years. As an OIC I have requested permission to respond to the incident or to participate in a support or training role. Quite often it required a selling job to educate the authorizing authority the benefits to be derived by both the participants and the sponsoring agency. As an authorizing au_thority I have to weigh the benefits, the expected results, and the hazards. As a rule I look for every reason to say "yes" and not an automatic turndown. How does it work in your community, with your organization and your agencies? RB096 and 097 your agencies? RB096 and 097