EMC158  Identification Cards
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
      California Governor's Office of Emergency Services  

EMC158  Identification Cards Revisited       For release 11/16/98   

In the mail we receive here at State OES, one of the most common
questions has to do with the subject of identification cards. Who
needs them?  What should and shouldn't be on them? 

Volunteers participating in an EMCOMM unit should have an ID
(identification) card issued by their served agency if they are 
tasked to serve another agency or undertake a field assignment.
Some agencies issue them to all unit participants, some only to
selected personnel - such as active volunteers, or those who may
need access to City or County buildings, fire stations or other
communication centers. (California also requires a separate
Disaster Service Worker registration, which some agencies use in
place of an ID card.)

In general, local agency procedures establish what information is
to be placed on the card, but it is usually the mininum that will
fully identify the person by physical detail.  Words such as
'POLICE' and 'FIRE' should be avoided to reduce the possibility
that EMCOMM  personnel may be mis-identified as public safety
professionals. It is usally best if the ID card bears the logo of the
served agency, a picture of the PARTICIPANT, and an established
expiration date.

ID cards should be carefully previewed with members of the served
agency, and designed in a way that police officers, firefighters
and others will recognize EMCOMM personnel as a local asset. In
case of disaster, an ID card may be worse than useless if the
officer to which it is presented fails to recognize it as
belonging to someone with important disaster responsibilities.
Hence, neighboring jurisdictions should be familiarized with
EMCOMM identifications cards in case mutual aid is requested by
or sent to another agency.

State OES does NOT have a statewide Emergency Communications Unit
(EMCOMM) identification card for use by other agencies or units.
Each must develop its own. State OES may issue its standard agency
ID card to selected State OES ACS officers after a specified service
period, but it is not a 'right' by reason of unit participation. Active
participation in the served agency often does not require such an
ID as personal face-to-face familiarity may be more important.

                                  ---
To subscribe to bulletins, send e-mail to autoshare@harthaven.com
and in the text say: subscribe emcomm-bulletin Name (where "Name"
is your name)
   - For training assistance contact the ACS Training Officer
     at the web site or send an email to Dave_Larton@oes.ca.gov
   - Submissions for future ACS bulletins: please send to: 
     State ACS Officer Cary Mangum: Cary_Mangum@oes.ca.gov
     or Deputy ACS Officer Ken Bourne: Ken_Bourne@oes.ca.gov

Bulletins are on the ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov  -and a
Landline BBS: 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface); and
a FTP Archive: ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming for 
some bulletins. For earlier ones: ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/races
EOM EMC158