Countywide : County Will Assess Riot-Control Ability

How would Orange County emergency services respond to civil unrest such as the Los Angeles riots?

The answer will be the subject of a report by the county’s emergency agencies, requested by the Board of Supervisors last week.

Board Chairman Roger R. Stanton asked for the report after meeting with directors of county emergency services that aided fire and police departments in Los Angeles County during the April riots.

“I think everyone agrees we were able to respond to the needs in Los Angeles without depleting our resources here,” said Fausto Reyes, manager of the county’s Emergency Management Division.

“But there are areas that could be strengthened. For instance, we haven’t any training with the National Guard, so we’re going to look at that as one of the areas we could improve.”

The report will explore expanding current training exercises to include working with emergency agencies from other counties.

Orange County already conducts an annual emergency drill at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, and Reyes said that that drill could be implemented as a model for other inter-agency emergency drills aimed at responding to earthquakes and other disasters.

The report will also look at the possibility of manning a county emergency hot line with trained mental health personnel.

“We had people calling the rumor hot line we implemented during the riots who were pretty shaken up by what they were watching in the media and needed someone to talk to about it,” Reyes said.

Initial reviews of Orange County’s response to the riots revealed a need for a public information office skilled in working with the media and having a keen understanding of the structure of county government, Stanton wrote in a letter to the board.

Stanton also said that he wants emergency agencies in the county to review reports from their counterparts in Los Angeles to assess the tactics used there to meet emergency needs during the riots.

Another element to the report will be procedures for recovering expenses incurred in emergency responses.

Orange County sent 432 emergency personnel to the riots at a cost of about $625,000, officials said.

Because Los Angeles was declared a disaster area, Orange County is currently in the process of recovering its expenses from the state, according to officials.

The Board of Supervisors expects the report in 90 days.