Certified Community Preparedness
Initiative (CCPI)
A kickoff meeting was held at New
Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) on 31 May 2005. The following summarizes the initiative presented at that
meeting.
Purpose Help smaller communities prepare
themselves for possible emergencies, including terrorist attacks. The plan is to develop a program for
emergency preparedness certification of communities, nationwide.
Originator U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, member House Homeland
Security Committee
Architect Michael Hensley, NM Tech, Socorro NM
Where Roswell (expanded to include all
of Chaves County) has been selected as the initial test bed community and
will serve as a template for the nationwide program
Principals Rep.
Steve Pearce RAdm David Ellison, Superintendent NMMI Michael
Hensley, NM Tech Teresa Barncastle, OEM John Balderston, Chief
RPD Mike Mathews, Chief RFD Michael Gottlieb, RISD
Superintendent Judy Armstrong, ENMU-R Provost
Participants American
Red Cross Amateur Radio Emergency Service Civil
Air Patrol Search & Rescue Civic
Groups Food, Utility, News and Transportation Industries
(Others will be added as Chaves County is brought into the
program.)
Actions The
committee (consisting of the principals) will continue with program
development, under the leadership of Michael Hensley. Steve Pearce and staff will coordinate the program with the
Department of Homeland Security.
Tidbits RAdm
Ellison stated NMMI will have a full Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a new
building already approved and currently under architectural design. This center will serve as a regional EOC and
backup to the State EOC in Santa Fe.
A full-scale Simulated Emergency Test (SET) for Chaves
County may be scheduled within the next year (perhaps a full weekend of
drill).
The Naval Postgraduate School may get involved in
Roswell/Chaves County training.
Roswell was selected to be the first certified community in
the nation, because Roswell is already further along toward being prepared than
many smaller communities.