MARTA police closed out National Preparedness Month in September with the largest emergency preparedness exercise in the state.
MARTA, in conjunction with more than 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officials, conducted its annual full-scale emergency exercise in Midtown early Sunday to help evaluate the state’s largest transit agency’s response to crisis situations and uncover any improvements that may be necessary.
From midnight to 3:30 a.m. Sunday, MARTA’s Midtown Station was transformed into the scene of a terrorist attack, which included explosions, smoke and actors playing the roles of terrorists and victims in a range of scenarios.
"These exercises are a critical tool that enable us to assess our response to crisis situations and identify areas for improvements," MARTA CEO Keith Parker said last week before the exercise was conducted. "The recent terror attack on London's rail system as well as natural disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma underscore the importance of running various scenarios."
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Over the next few weeks, officials will review tapes of the exercise and generate lessons for the 17 agencies involved, which included the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Grady Emergency Management Services, Atlanta Fire Rescue, Atlanta Police Department (APD), Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services and more.
MARTA has performed these exercises for 10 years with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Each year, the exercise is a bit different and is often designed to mimic a relevant real-world crisis, said MARTA spokeswoman Stephany Fisher.
“This year it was more of a terrorist attack on a train system not unlike what happened in London. Lots of gunfire and an explosion simulating a bomb,” she said. The activity took place underground, on the train platform and the stairs, as well as inside of a train car. It featured actors in the role of terrorists who had accessed the rail line from different entry points and ultimately created a hostage situation.
Tetra Tech, the California-based company that organizes full-scale emergency exercises, acted as controllers making sure the different scenarios were set up accurately. Law enforcement officers were not aware of the scenarios beforehand and were reacting in real time to the simulated events, Fisher said.
“The idea here is to learn and to work out scenarios and to try different things in an environment where no lives are lost,” Fisher said. “I don’t know if every scenario went as they would imagine it to. The idea is to find vulnerabilities and adjust accordingly.”
At the end of last week, MARTA officials were already working on a review of their responses to less dramatic situations — after power outages on Wednesday stalled trains, leaving passengers stuck at stations, in between stations and in darkened tunnels. Passengers at that time complained of lax or nonexistent communication from drivers.
These are challenges that the emergency preparedness exercises may also help address over time, said MARTA officials.
“I know people always see the theatrics and think to themselves: You have made such a huge investment for this night; what do you yield from that?” said MARTA police Lt. Aston Greene.
An after action report, generated in about 30 days, serves as a guide to help MARTA and other agencies uncover areas where improvements may be needed, even in the absence of a major attack or disaster.
For example, the expansion of MARTA’s CCTV, or closed-circuit television, monitoring system came about as a direct result of the need for better security technology based on a prior after action report, Greene said.
“Getting the after action report is what allows us to improve systemically. So that for me is what is the ultimate value,” he said.
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