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Mission Manager Demonstrates the Power of its Incident Command Software to SWAT Teams at the TaCops West Tactical Training Conference and Exposition

Mission Manager is pleased to showcase its incident management software at TaCops West – the largest and most prestigious SWAT conference and expo in the Western U.S. –  which runs May 18-20 in Las Vegas, Nev.

TaCops West is sponsored by the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA), Arizona Tactical Officers Association (ATOA), Utah Tactical Officers Association (UTOA), the Washington State Tactical Officers Association (WSTOA),  the California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO), and local Nevada SWAT teams.Capture

The conference includes more than 40 elite training tracks as well as a trade show exposition with approximately 100 vendors showcasing their latest technologies and products.

At booth #111, Mission Manager’s staff will demonstrate how its incident management software can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of an agency’s daily operations and tactical deployments, ranging from active shooters and high-risk warrant service to large-scale public events and training exercises.

As an all-encompassing, automated solution for daily team management and mission execution, cloud-based Mission Manager helps speed response times and ensures a Unified Command structure. With a click of a button, administrators can quickly deploy members based on qualifications, track personnel and events in real time on robust maps, and produce accurate ICS reports.

PREPARATION. READINESS. EXECUTION.

It all begins with team readiness and preparation, which lays the foundation for a strong infrastructure needed to save lives. Mission Manager uniquely provides an operational environment for daily team management and serves as an online command center. In the field, Mission Manager provides a common operational picture on multiple devices in multiple locations. After the incident, users can produce instant reports for legal compliance, debriefs and government reimbursements.

It all boils down to infsafetyormation sharing, and information is power. Here’s how it works:

PREPARATION begins with the personnel roster, where members can manage their own contact information such as medical information, issued gear and personal equipment, training, certifications and expirations. Administrators can also track and manage their team’s equipment and maintenance schedules. Because this data is readily available, incident managers can quickly deploy the right people at the right time.

READINESS is achieved with the day-to-day management of documents and forms, timekeeping, scheduling and tasks. Permission levels control who can see and edit the data.

EXECUTION is initiated with simple drag-and-drop team-building. Incident commanders can easily create missions with pre-set or customized checklists. They can quickly callout members via SMS text, email or voice (or all three simutaneously).

  •  Situational Awareness: Mission Manager enhances situational awareness in the field with real-time communications and tracking, along with robust maps featuring approximately 100 mapping layers.
  • Automated Reporting: Mission Manager’s robust database provides a second-by-second record of every event. This data can be easily exported as ICS/NIMS-compliant reports. Through automation, Mission Manager reduces unnecessary paperwork and bottlenecks with a click of a button.

KEY BENEFITS

SAVES TIME AND MONEY
As a “one-stop shop” integrated system, Mission Manager streamlines the workflow and consolidates functions such as scheduling, timekeeping, callouts, real-time tracking and reporting.

USER-FRIENDLY
Mission Manager is intuitive, easy to use and highly customizable.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Mission Manager provides a user-defined Common Operational Picture that can be shared with agencies that are providing mutual aid.

SCALABLE
Mission Manager can easily scale to thousands of users as needed, including spontaneous volunteers.

ROBUST MAPPING
Mission Manager features nearly 100 mapping overlays that include topography, weather, natural hazards, locations of hospitals, fire and police departments, as well as social media feeds at points of interest.

SECURE & CLOUD-BASED
Mission Manager, which recently received Homeland Security SAFETY Act Designation, operates securely in the cloud on laptops, smartphones and tablets. It can also be used offline and syncs the data when web connection is restored.

About Mission Manager
Mission Manager provides cloud-based software designed to help save lives and property by enabling first responders to operate more efficiently and effectively. Mission Manager’s team member and asset management capabilities, combined with its calendar and communication functions, allows users to enhance team readiness through optimized training and seamlessly integrate mission-specific operations during real-time events. Since 2011, Mission Manager has supported approximately 7,000 actual missions ranging from single-person rescues to large public events and full-scale natural disaster response. Mission Manager is currently used in all 50 US states, and on every continent except Antarctica. Truly a global tool, Mission Manager is available in 80 languages. 

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Mission Manager Incident Command Tracking Capabilities Tested at Multi-Jurisdictional Search-and-Rescue Exercise (NCR SAREX) in the National Capital Region

LORTON, VA, October 2015 – In a first-ever training event involving seven law enforcement agencies in the National Capital Region (NCR), Mission Manager was put to the ultimate test as officials compared the incident management software with traditional paper methodologies during a mock search for a missing family at NCR SAREX.

Sponsored by the Fairfax County Police Department, the multi-jurisdictional Search-and-Rescue Exercise, or SAREX, was held Oct. 16-17 at the Mason Neck State Park that is bordered by the Potomac River, Occoquan River and neighboring communities in Lorton, Va.

SAREX briefing

Searchers receive a briefing about their mission (Photo courtesy: WTOP/Mike Murillo)

It was a grueling 36-hour exercise that involved approximately 80 participants from the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC region.  The event attracted law enforcement officers from agencies including Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County and Montgomery County, Md. Also on hand were the Marine Patrol, Air Assets and numerous volunteer SAR groups – including several K9 and equestrian teams that are long-time users of Mission Manager.

The organizers’ primary goal was to bring all search resources together and hone their collective skills in this multi-operational exercise involving multiple jurisdictions. At the same time, they wanted to see how Mission Manager performed compared to the traditional paper-based method of organizing and tracking search teams.

In this exciting competition, automation clearly won over paper, according to Andy Young, Mission Manager subject matter expert and a director of Parthenon Technology Consultants LLC, in Sterling, Va.

SAREX-NCR

Mission Manager’s mapping layers were used to plot the coordinates of the search area, and also track members, clues and events in real-time.

“Everyone we talked to – from the teams on the front lines to the search managers – gave Mission Manager a big thumbs up,” said Young. “They were particularly impressed with how it simplified the process of checking in-and-out members, performing accurate PAR [Personal Accountability Report] checks, organizing teams, and tracking all the search elements on mission maps.”

The mission was based on a scenario involving a mother and two sons who went missing while hiking in the park. The children’s father searches for them in the woods late at night, and also finds himself lost. Then, an 80-year-old Alzheimer’s patient self-deploys after learning of the incident on TV, and becomes lost herself.

The idea was to see how Mission Manager and search managers performed without any pre-planning.  Prior to the mission, they were given a GPS coordinate of the command post and a flyer describing the training goals and resource types.

The paper-based crew coordinated the mission inside a huge command vehicle and a communications truck, which were parked about 30 feet apart.  Andy Young and his crew sat at a table just outside the command bus, running Mission Manager on his laptop. A second computer was set up inside the command bus for the planning section, and a third in the communications truck for operations.

Moving between the three stations, he demonstrated how easy it was to check-in the participants, set up team assignments and run the mission in the field with a click of a button.  Meanwhile, the paper-based crew scrambled to write all the information on paper – running back-and-forth between the trailers to share information.

Andy Young

Andy Young is pictured outside the command vehicle as he demonstrates the power of Mission Manager.

“Mission Manager automated the entire process,” he said. “Setting up the team assignments was incredibly fast.”

The mission began with a hasty search – a quick search with K9 teams mostly on defined trails – then transitioned into a wide area search that spanned 5 square miles.  The U.S. National Grid (USNG), which is the standard geo-referencing tool for land SAR missions, was used to track and pinpoint the location of the subjects.

Mission Manager’s mapping layers, including USNG and U.S. Geological Survey Topo Maps, were used to define all the search areas. Mission Manager also tracked and recorded all events from the radio logs, including the participants’ actions, locations and clues found (such as candy, a black jacket and lunch leftovers.)  With geo-location codes, all this information appeared instantly on the mission maps.

“People were particularly impressed with the COMMS log [radio log] because it told the entire story,” Young said, noting that the recorded information also simplified the process of producing after action reviews.

Comms Log

The COMMs log tracked all events in real-time at the exercise, including clues found during the search.

During the exercise, three of the four missing family members were found alive and well; one of the sons had drowned in the river. With the help of air assets, the search parties also found the Alzheimer’s patient who was equipped with Project LifeSaver receivers/transmitters.

Fortunately, all these victims were role-players. But as it turned out, the training exercise evolved into a real-world SAR mission. Search teams involved in the exercise also found real people who were lost in the area.

“It was an exhilarating, rewarding experience to take part in this exercise,” said Young. “It was also a ground-breaking event for agencies and volunteers in the National Capitol Region, who gained the skills and knowledge that will help ensure well-coordinated search efforts in the future.”

For more details about the event, read article that appeared in WTOP – Washington’s Top News – by Mike Murillo: “Fairfax search drill hopes to better prepare officials.”

 ABOUT MISSION MANAGER
Mission Manager provides cloud-based software designed to help save lives and property by enabling first responders to operate more efficiently and effectively. Mission Manager’s team member and asset management capabilities, combined with its calendar and communication functions, allows users to enhance team readiness through optimized training and seamlessly integrate mission-specific operations during real-time events. Over the past three years, Mission Manager has supported approximately 6,000 actual missions ranging from single-person rescues to large public events and full-scale natural disaster response. Mission Manager is currently used in all 50 U.S. states, and on every continent except Antarctica. Truly a global tool, Mission Manager is available in 80 languages.

SAREX-NCR

SAREX reports