In October 2002, Chechen rebels seized a theater in downtown Moscow, holding nearly 1,000 people hostage.  The siege ended when Russian authorities introduced a fentanyl-type derivative to render all parties inside unconscious.  One-hundred and twenty-seven hostages died due to untimely medical care, but it was a near perfect tactical operation. One reason for the success of the operation was intelligence obtained through cell phone calls made by patrons inside the theater.

The lesson of the value of individuals making cell phone calls was not lost on the Chechens. In their next attack on a school with more than 1,000 hostages, they quickly confiscated all cell phones. They knew the capabilities of these cellphones to provide useful intelligence to the authorities.

The real question is, did we learn the lesson and realize how valuable a tool new mobile communication devices are to public safety agencies? Or revise our procedures and protocols to allow us to tap into them?

If you look at your agency’s plans and find you still have protocols to monitor television reporting during major emergencies, you are behind.  If your agency has a website so people can come to you for information, but you have no mechanism to monitor or respond to their inquires, you too are behind.  If your Incident Command System does not include protocols and procedures to establish a branch for Social Media Monitoring and Response, and Units for Data Mining, Operational Actionable Intel, and Community Management as depicted in the diagram below, you are behind the times.

An Incident Commander is responsible for for the entire scene and the highest priority is life safety.  If you don’t have a protocol in place to staff the Social Media Monitoring and Response Branch, with appropriately trained personnel immediately, you will fail to provide for the safety all those impacted.  A tremendous amount of detailed information now flows regarding life safety issues from any major event, e.g. Mumbai shooting, New Zealand earthquake and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Without a formalized process to monitor, mine and utilize such information, needless suffering will occur.  The answer is pre-planning and getting your Social Media systems in place now.