Police

CLEVELAND POLICE EMERGENCY PLANNING UNIT

Cleveland Police has a dedicated Emergency Planning Unit, responsible for developing structures and plans for a major incident response, meeting statutory requirements under legislation and ensuring staff are trained in their role to manage expectations in a major incident. The Unit is managed by an Inspector and comprises of three emergency planning officers, a hazmat officer and shares an administrative assistant with the Local Authority Emergency Planning Unit.

The Unit is co-located within the Cleveland Emergency Planning Unit alongside emergency planners from Cleveland Fire Brigade, North East Ambulance Service and the Local Authorities. This situation is unique within England where the emergency services and local authority emergency planning officers work together from the same suite of offices. This provides excellent partnership working and a joint approach to emergency planning to ensure that the best possible response to a major incident is undertaken.

In the event of a major incident, the Police responsibilities are to co-ordinate the multi-agency response and manage the incident scene, which invariably will be a ‘crime scene’.  

The role of the Police Emergency Planning Unit is to:

·        Develop and manage the Police response plans in relation to the major industrial and chemical sites within the Cleveland area.

·        Participate with other emergency planners to deliver the annual exercise programme with industrial sites covered by the Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations (COMAH), in excess of 30 exercises per year.

·        Develop and manage the Police response plans in respect of other risks and issues relating to emergencies i.e. nuclear, flooding, etc.

·        Act in a liaison role with several agencies, industry, fire service, ambulance and local authority in respect of emergencies.

·        Represent the Police Service nationally on the transportation of hazardous goods and COMAH.

·        Provide a source of expertise in relation to HAZMAT issues, both within Force and externally to other Police Forces and industry.

·        Provide a source of expertise in disaster management and command and control.

·        Provide major incident training internally to Police staff and to other agencies and industry.

·        Review and develop the Cleveland Police generic Major Incident Plan which provides role and responsibility information for relevant personnel.

·        Develop and improve the Cleveland Police capability to manage a Major Incident i.e. casualty bureau, temporary mortuary, relative reception, public assistance centre, etc.

For further information, please contact the Cleveland Police Emergency Planning Unit, PO Box 194, Park Road South, Middlesbrough, TS5 6YF or telephone 01642 303255. Alternatively, e-mail the Unit on: emergency.planningunit@cleveland.pnn.police.uk   

Link to: Cleveland Police Website 

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