Leadership practicum: practical application and reflection

DRNC Leadership Practicum

One of the most controversial political conventions is coming to the streets of Miami. The Democratic Republican Convention will surely bring its fair share of political controversy, including clear public protests and signs of civil dissatisfaction with the very politicians that the convention are honoring. As the Incident Commander, it is my job to take a long, reflective look at the capacities of the City of Miami and improve how it deals with security issues based on comparisons of past security issues.

Miami has long been a hotbed for civil concerns to breach the forefront. When politics comes to the Miami Dade area, there are often a number of citizens who are right there to show their own opinion on the matter, and often times that can lead to a potential security situation. Throughout the past few decades, the City of Miami has had to deal with a number of situations where concerns over unpopular politics turned to violence. The experience of dealing with these situations in the past has provided the City with an interesting wealth of knowledge that it can once again turn to in order to prevent future problems from occurring when controversial politics once again come knocking at Miami's door. It is this experience that will ultimately allow the Miami Dade Police Department to be able to think ahead, avoid unnecessary conflict when the Democratic Republican Convention comes to town, but also be able to address certain security issues directly as they arise so that they do not blow up to dangerous proportions.

Miami has always utilized strong collaboration in order to help strengthen regional efforts of security. In this current scenario, the Miami Dade Police Department will take the role of lead local agency, whereas the City of Miami was previously designated as the lead local agency in the past for similar events. Yet, this is clearly not a single outfit operation. The police department is well aware of the cooperative nature of this operation, and has a long history of working with other agencies, both state and federal, to provide the utmost level of security. With Miami being one of the biggest port cities in the entire United States, there has always been a strong collaborative effort between local and federal authorities. Miami Dade Police Department can draw upon this experience in order to bring in already established strategic relationships to strengthen the security forces and the seamless operations needed to make sure the event goes smoothly. This type of cooperative spirit between local and federal agencies is what ultimately led to the success of Super Bowl XLI.

There are also a number of factors that blocked innovations in the past. In the past, the City of Miami has tended to deal with situations from a fractured point-of-view. In many instances, it has not utilized a holistic view to the planning of controversial political events and public safety, which has led to mishaps and security failures in the past. In all reality, there are a number of major issues aligned with one another, where risk management, corrections management, terrorism and homeland security, and a number of other end strategies can be combined in order to provide planners and authorities the most in depth perspective in regards on how to keep the situation safe and unrest to a minimum. From these past failures, the current security team can learn to be more holistic in their approach.

Unlike the city officials at the City of Miami, the Miami Dade Police Department has seen its air share of major security issues. This is not to say that the City of Miami does not have a background in security, but that the police department is much more equipped to handle a wider breadth of security issues. Miami Dade police have a long history of dealing with potential race riots and other forms of civil unrest in a way that is more efficient in getting violence quelled as fast as possible. For the police department to be able to have a central authority means that it can utilize its greatly expanded breadth of experience in order to draw upon lessons learned from previous tense situations in order to hopefully avoid destructive political unrest and violence. This ultimately gives city officials greater strength in planning to avoid security issues. For example, based on knowledge of how controversial such political conventions have been in the past, city officials can best plan for the location for the First Amendment Zones around the convention center. There is a waterway between the First Amendment Zone and the actual convention center. In fact there is 300 feet of deep water between the two. This provides an extra layer of buffering zone between potential security issues and the political convention itself. The lay out of Miami an the expertise of the city police officers who work these water ways can utilize this to their advantage so that it provides an extra layer of protection during the day of the event.

One thing Miami has in place is a strong infrastructure for dealing with the multitude of security issues that might eventually arise during the convention. With land, sea, and air access to the convention, authorities will be able to tackle potential security issues form a multitude of fronts. For example, the First Amendment zone is on waterfront property. This will allow security officials three methods of access, by land, sea and air. Meanwhile, protestors will only have access by foot. This may ultimately provide security forces with a huge upper hand because they have the availability to call in reinforcements when needed. This will also allow the security presence to remain relatively out of sight while the peace is being kept in order to not aggravate protestors any more than they already are. When the issue begins to get out of hand, security presence can easily and quickly be augmented. While protestors may only have one method for reaching the convention, the police and other authorities will have a number of methods at their disposal, which will keep them one step ahead but also make reaction times much faster. This will ultimately mean far quicker response times than in other regions and even in Miami's past. This edge in regards to response time will ultimately decide major security issues as they begin to get out of hand. With this multitude of resources, a Mobile Field Force will have a step above any groups looking to cause chaos and unrest during one of the most important political conventions of the election.