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"Any tool that allows us to better communicate public safety concerns to our community is a positive
step for better preparedness. I support this project and look forward to seeing it implemented."
- Mason C. Whitney, Director, Governor's Office of Homeland Security
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The partnership will organize the resources and expertise of the business community to improve security and response capability in Denver and throughout the state. By working together, public, private and non-profit leaders will strengthen Colorado’s ability to mitigate the impact of catastrophic events and will help ensure the safety of Colorado citizens and the resiliency of its economy.
Business Emergency Operations Center
CEPP is operating a virtual Business Emergency Operations Center, a situational alerting system designed to connect the disparate and often proprietary systems utilized by different organizations responding to a disaster or event together for collaboration, command and control, communications management, crisis and incident response, and overall fusion of management and operational efforts. This will be a subscription based application service which will allow the private sector to have a centralized portal to respond to and communicate during critical events. This will be an inclusive, yet secured, online Situation Center from which people are notified and then work together to resolve the situation - an online command and control center. Using the Situation Center will dramatically increase individual productivity and effectiveness when responding to a crisis wherever they are.
How it Will Work
When a critical event is identified, the response team is alerted through their communication devices, such as landline, mobile, email, fax, pager and SMS. All responses are tracked and recorded. At the same time, a Situation Center is created as a secure web page, or dashboard. The information on this web page can be accessed by any web or email device (including mobiles, PDAs and Blackberrys). Everyone with access permission can see and contribute relevant information and report progress at any time. In this regard, the Entire team is quickly utilized in the successful and timely management and resolution of the crisis. This Center will be an unprecedented way for the Colorado private sector to contribute to the information sharing process, in collaboration with public safety officials in real time. For those responding to the crisis, the Situation Center web page indicates people status, task status and information resources and allows them to interact by posting messages, links, documents, sound, video, pictures or any file. To find out more or to become part of CEPP’s Business Corps in the virtual Business Emergency Operations Center, please click here or contact us directly.
After the Event
The Situation Center dashboard will provide a clear history of events and responses made to them so that CEPP can improve procedures for the future. This audit log will also be a clear and unambiguous record of what happened, providing for transparency to the process, accountability of the Partnership and a forum to look for ways to improve our collective response capabilities.
Alerting System
The Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership is piloting a service (CEPP Alert) that will allow the public to subscribe to a text or e-mail alerting system, enabling the Partnership to communicate valuable and timely information from public safety officials in the event of an emergency or incident impacting the Denver metro area. MissionMode, the company supporting this effort, is providing the technology and capability to reach an unlimited number of people to alert them to possible dangers, reroute them in the event of unplanned road closures or broadcast important instructions directly to handheld devices or e-mail accounts. This alerting system will only be used to share information that is provided and approved by public safety officials. The intent of CEPP Alert is to enable us to communicate rapidly and effectively, thereby reducing the cost and impact of operations or incidents. The service being offered by CEPP and MissionMode lends itself to environments where the need to communicate increases, but the ability to communicate may decrease. To subscribe to the CEPP Alert system, please click here, and enter this special authorization code (case-sensitive): Mm007CePP.
CONNECT Colorado: Private Asset Registry
The Cooperative Initiative for Emergency Capability Tracking (CONNECT) in Colorado is a project that combines the strength of government with the expertise of the business community to improve the emergency response capabilities within our state. It is a voluntary and confidential registry of private assets that can be tapped into by state and local emergency management officials in response to a disaster.
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FAQs About CONNECT Colorado
How do I participate in CONNECT Colorado?
To participate, private sector businesses agree to provide previously identified resources during an emergency. This ready availability of information will potentially save lives and certainly result in quicker recovery from a disaster. The resource sharing tool will also provide for detailed pre-incident planning by bringing substantial private sector skills and assets to support local and state government emergency response efforts. To learn more or to register, please contact: connect_colorado@bah.com.
If my company participates in CONNECT, is it obligated to provide assets on request?
No. Participants are under no obligation to provide assets listed in the registry. While the hope is that assets are available when needed, we understand circumstances may prevent partners from providing a resource.
How often does my company need to update its information?
We request that you update your list of assets annually at a minimum. We will prompt you to update your contact information at regular intervals.
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Events
The Colorado Emergency Preparedness Partnership holds educational and informative events, all in an effort to begin a permanent, ongoing dialog in Colorado between private sector leaders in our community and those entities working on Homeland Security efforts. It is our hope that the community will benefit from engaging and thought provoking conversations as to how the private sector can play a role in securing our great nation and our State. A sample of events to date:
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Meta Leadership Summit for Preparedness,
May 12 – 13 in Denver
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Business Roundtable: Conversation on Modern Terrorism and Society with the
Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |
| On May 21st, CEPP hosted a Roundtable for our business partners in an engaging and thought provoking conversation regarding military and public sector efforts and how the private sector can play a role in securing our great nation and our State. Bill Braniff, Director of External Education at the Combating Terrorism Center, and Jarret Brachman, Director of Research in the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, briefed Denver business leaders including Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman. |
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Risk Communications Course
On June 19th, CEPP hosted a Crisis and Emergency Communications Risk Communications Course that provided critical tools and techniques to help area PIOs effectively manage the challenges of communicating with partners, stakeholders and the media during a crisis.
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