NHW NSW NEW SOUTH WALES
Emergency Management Marathon In late February, the NSW Government warned everyone to prepare for a possible pandemic converging with this years winter flu. The risk to public health in NSW reached new thresholds within days. The first of the mandatory selfisolation restrictions was announced on St Patrick’s Day, when the NSW Health Minister directed that all overseas passengers were to self-isolate for 14 days and mass gatherings were restricted. The total number of new cases in Australia levelled out at about 350 per day by late March, with the highest number of cases in NSW. By then public gatherings were reduced to just two people, and thousands of officers were deployed on the streets to enforce the new rules. Throughout the entire emergency, commanders across the state have gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure regular policing continues.
State Emergency Operations Controller (SEOC) at Homebush
Functional Area Coordinator) swung back into action, with constant support from the Emergency Management Unit. In February Deputy Commissioner Gary Warboys – in his role as SEOCON – activated the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills.
headquarters at Homebush, which is large enough to allow staff from all response agencies and functional areas to work side by-side. They also had access to advanced technology at the site which allowed for live information updates, intelligence sharing, digital mapping as well as public information and media broadcasting.
Within a few weeks the SEOC was moved to Rural Fire Service (RFS)
In a marathon communications campaign, the SEOCON has stood
Managing Emergencies Under the NSW State Emergency Management Plan, the NSW Police Force’s designated the role of coordinating interaction between emergency services and other functional areas. In addition, they are responsible for coordinating the Public Information Functional Area. Just weeks after supporting the RFS during the bushfire and wild weather emergencies, the SEOCON (State Emergency Operations Controller) and the PIFAC (Public Information
16
NHWA JOURNAL AUGUST 2020
Homebush Police Officers
