The Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) is a citizen-staffed disaster preparedness program designed for volunteers 16 years of age or older who live, work or attend high school in San Francisco. ALERT volunteers will first complete the fire department’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) training program (www.sfgov.org/sfnert) and then graduate into an eight-hour police department course specifically designed for ALERT team members. The program will have basic, senior, and supervisory level positions.
The goal of the program is to locate, train and then coordinate volunteers to safely perform essential tasks after a major disaster. Such tasks might include traffic control, foot patrol of business and residential areas, reporting criminal activity, looting and property damage observation, supplying information to the Incident Command Post, working in partnership with NERT volunteers to provide well-being checks, assisting with medical aid, assisting with Command Post functions, assisting Animal Care and Control in the handling of pets, securing resource locations, and delivering logistical supplies. In addition, ALERT members will direct individuals to mass casualty and shelter locations, assist at reunification centers, provide support at schools for reunification, and participate in Operation Return.
An informational meeting will be held at the San Francisco Police Academy, located at 350 Amber Drive, Room 100, on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at 7 p.m. All members of the public are welcome. Interested individuals will have their questions about the program answered at the meeting.
For more information on the ALERT program, e-mail [email protected] or call Sgt. Mark Hernandez (SFPD, Ret.), ALERT program coordinator, at 415-832-8419.
