C-CERT Campus Community Emergency Response Team

Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) Train-the-Trainer Program for
American Colleges and Universities

Effective October 1, 2005, the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University School (MSU) was awarded a two-year, competitive training grant for $1,539,461 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Grants & Training (currently organized within FEMA as the Training Exercise Integration-Training Operations Division or TEI-TO) to develop and deliver a Campus Community Emergency Response Team Train-the-Trainer Program for American colleges and universities nationwide. This program has received a no-cost extension to continue its performance period to September 30, 2008.

Originally developed by the Los Angeles Fire Department in response to earthquake disasters and later adapted as an “all-hazards” course by FEMA, the Community Emergency Response Team or CERT program is now one of five Citizen Corps partner programs coordinated by DHS. The others include the Fire Corps, the Neighborhood Watch Program, the Medical Reserve Corps, and Volunteers in Police Service. All these Citizen Corps programs serve as delivery mechanisms for implementing citizen participation in preparedness consistent with Homeland Security Presidential Directive #8 (HSPD-8), the National Preparedness Goal, the Universal Task List (UTL), the Target Capabilities List (TCL), and other documents.

The primary purpose of this program is to apply the established CERT model to the college and university environment. Every campus community is a virtual “city within a city,” with many of the same challenges to public health and safety faced by any other community, but also some unique or special risks and vulnerabilities. Whether located in rural, urban or metropolitan areas, colleges and universities have large, diverse and multicultural populations of faculty, staff, and students on campus in residence halls and classrooms during the school year. Many also have large sports stadiums or arenas, conference centers, concert halls or other facilities that attract tens of thousands of visitors at a time for special events. Campus critical infrastructures may also include research laboratories, power plants, drinking water or wastewater treatment plants, hospitals and clinics, and IT networks.

Research shows that colleges and universities across the country have experienced critical incidents, emergencies and disasters from a variety of man-made and natural hazards in recent decades. The list includes major fires, hurricanes, floods, hazardous materials incidents, civil disturbances, and domestic terrorist attacks against campus research facilities by environmental or animal rights extremist groups.

MSU’s grant is not the first to focus on implementing CERT in an academic campus setting. Funded by a FEMA innovative grant, the University of Washington launched a pilot campus CERT project in 2004. Information on that program and links to a UW CERT Best Practices document may be found at http://www.washington.edu/admin/business/oem/cert/.

Since the migration of Citizen Corps and CERT to DHS, there has been strong support for updating and expanding the concept of “targeted” CERT programs on a national basis using a train-the-trainer approach. During the 2005 competitive training grant cycle, DHS funded not only MSU’s Campus CERT project, but also awarded a grant to Eastern Michigan University to conduct a Teen CERT
Train-the-Trainer Program for high schools across the country. Other targeted CERT initiatives already developed or under consideration by Citizen Corps focus on stadium employees, people with disabilities, Indian Tribes, and CERT in other languages, such as Arabic or Spanish.

Building on the standard CERT curriculum currently approved by Citizen Corps, the three-day C-CERT Train-the-Trainer Program includes a new Campus Annex to the standard CERT Instructor Guide. The first day involves lectures, small group discussions and individual “toolbox” exercises pertaining to this Annex.

Learning objectives and focus areas include:

Adult learning principles and educational methodology
Special campus hazards, risks and vulnerabilities
Best practices for “selling,” implementing, organizing, recruiting, training, deploying, funding and sustaining C-CERT
Teambuilding
C-CERT liability issues
C-CERT interface with the Incident Command System (ICS) and campus or local public safety agencies and emergency operations centers (EOCs)
Adapting C-CERT as a course for academic credit
Starting a campus Citizen Corps Council, and coordinating with local councils, CERT teams and other Citizen Corps programs

The remaining two days of the program focus on train-the-trainer tips, demonstrates, practice, and “teach-back” sessions to better prepare the trainees to deliver the standard CERT curriculum and exercises to C-CERT volunteers at their respective institutions.

Topics or units in the standard, core CERT curriculum include:

Disaster preparedness
Fire safety
Disaster Medical Operations—Parts 1 & 2
Light search and rescue operations
CERT organization
Disaster psychology
Terrorism and CERT
Disaster simulation

The C-CERT Train-the-Trainer Program targets campus police, public safety, security, emergency management, EMS, risk management, facilities management, community relations or outreach, environmental health and safety, or anyor other appropriate personnel who may be tasked with recruiting, training and leading CERT teams at their respective academic institutions, as well as faculty who may incorporate CERT into courses for academic credit. The program is open to academic institutions of higher learning of all types and sizes, from small private or community colleges to major state research universities and Ivy League schools.

Under this cooperative agreement, MSU will conduct at least fourteen C-CERT train-the-trainer sessions for up to 700 trainees on a regional basis nationwide, including three pilot programs. The pilots will be evaluated by subject matter experts so that any needed revisions and improvements can be made. Following final course review and approval, the C-CERT model and all supporting instructional materials will be adopted for national promotion and made available by DHS-Citizen Corps.

To help schools offset the start-up costs for Campus CERT teams, this grant allows MSU to provide a small allocation of up to 24 C-CERT backpacks with personal protective equipment(PPE)to each institution that participates by having personnel complete the C-CERT Train-the-Trainer courses. Other resources will also be made available through the C-CERT Web site, including supplementary or refresher C-CERT modules, HSEEP-compliant C-CERT exercise templates, links to best practices, and other online tools or resources.

MSU will partner with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) and other appropriate stakeholder associations to market and deliver the program. One or more institutions within each IACLEA region will be asked to host or co-host a train-the-trainer session, with an emphasis on finding suitable emergency services training facilities for both classroom training and practical exercises. Scheduling of these programs will also be coordinated with the state Citizen Corps/CERT director and the designated training point-of-contact person for each homeland security state administrative agency or SAA in the states selected to host these sessions.

Dr. Phil Schertzing of the School of Criminal Justice (and retired Michigan State Police Emergency Management Division inspector), serves as overall program manager for MSU on the grant, with Chuck Bouth (retired assistant chief of Lansing Fire Department) as project coordinator. The cadre of field instructors for the program includes nearly a dozen individuals who are currently active in or retired from the fire service in various departments. Several of them also have experience as Sheriff’s deputies, paramedics, campus police officers, EMT’s, and hazmat technicians.

This project is supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 2005-GT-T5-K012 administered by the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Grants & Training. Points of view or opinions in this document
do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of the United States Government.