November 12, 2010

"CERT Training for Radio Operators - Will Church Member CERT Teams Be Road Blocked in a Worst Case Scenario Emergency?"

As a leader of a Church group of amateur radio operators in Glendora, CA I have been encouraging our hams to take Citizen’s Emergency Response Team (CERT) training so they can be better prepared to help in emergencies in the community.  Since CERT team members are given authorization badges to enable them to cross police barricades we felt that our radio operators should all have CERT training. We have recently learned that our local police agency CERT training provider  now requires additional "Citizen Academy" training and family background checks in order to receive this level of authorization, and that the police will deploy the CERT team members according to their own needs. 

This would seem to preclude any ward Bishopric from sending  Church-organized  CERT teams to check on ward members directly unless some agreement could be made with the local law enforcement agencies to authorize our teams passage through police barriers, etc.  

Furthermore  the Glendora Stake covers four communities (Glendora, Azusa, Covina, and parts of San Dimas) so  the rendering of assistance beyond one's own community may be limited if CERT authorization is city-specific only.  Am I off base in sensing a paradigm shift in the purpose of CERT? 

Your thoughts, experiences,  and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mark Hayden, N7YLA