| | October 20168CIOReviewIT's Role during Crisis By Rosa Akhtarkhavari, CIO, City of OrlandoThe Role of Information Technology in a CrisisInformation technology is pervasive in City of Orlando government, enhancing operational capabilities and allowing the City to fulfill its mission of delivering public services in a knowledgeable, responsive and financially responsible manner. The same is true of our role during and in the wake of the tragic loss of life at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016.One of our critical focus areas is preparing for emergency response to major planned events and disasters. The emergency response plan takes into consideration, and is responsive to, evolving physical and cyber threats and risks. To plan for such events, we hold table top exercises to discuss possible disaster scenarios. These exercises foster productive discussions between operational units and increase mutual awareness of resources, needs and capabilities. The goal is to achieve a collective understanding of how we may respond effectively to an emergency with clarity about the roles of each emergency response function and how they interact with one another.The City of Orlando's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated from June 12 through June 22, 2016 in response to the Pulse tragedy. The initial response of the IT team included activating the existing emergency information line and contacting IT staff with instructions to report to the EOC or be on standby. Our response to the 2004 hurricanes, a cyber-attack and a civil disobedience table top exercise assisted us in this response, but none prepared us for dealing with the emotional impact and the flood of emotions we were experiencing.The suddenness of the event was also unlike previous emergencies we had faced. Although the City had responded to active shooter events in the past, these efforts were limited primarily to a police and fire response. This time, however, the sheer scale of the Pulse tragedy went far beyond police and fire rescue. There was on-scene triage, Level 1 trauma center activation, a flood of 9-1-1 calls, international attention, an outpouring of public support and an urgent need to absorb that support.Shortly after we activated our emergency information call center, logs began to show that demand far exceeded the call center's capacity. Upon discovering this, we increased the center's capacity to 46 active/queued calls and made a note of this for future preparations.The unique nature of the incident also required the support of partners at the local, regional, state and national level. The support model required a quick response from the IT team to provide landline phone services, wired secure connectivity, an increase of our secure Wi-Fi capacity and ensuring technology was available to City staff and supporting agency staff at multiple locations. This support was essential to allow for the collection of information by various private, public and non-governmental agencies, as well as, the victims and their families.The Police Computer Aided Dispatch system reached the largest number of dispatched units per incident since the implementation of the system almost three decades ago. The IT team, working with the Orlando Police Department, was able to implement a workaround to address the capacity threshold being reached during this most critical time. We assisted the Orlando Police and Fire Department to stand up specialized CAD reports IN MY OPINIONRosa Akhtarkhavari
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