Domestic Security Task Force At Metro Park

JACKSONVILLE, FL - When it comes to insuring public safety, manpower, equipment, training and communications are the critical links.

Today at Metro Park, emergency personnel from 13 Northeast Florida counties gathered for their annual Region Three Domestic Security Task Force.

Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department Hazmat team member Danny Fehr demonstrated how they can detect radiation on individuals using a high-tech wand.

"If you have people that are exposed to any type of radiation, these tell us what type they may have," said Fehr, who found unusually high readings from one volunteer. The gentleman then told Fehr he had undergone Nuclear Medicine chemotherapy last week.

"See -- he's got a pretty large dose going off on him. You can hear the device going off," said Fehr.

Then there was "Storm" the rescue dog showed off his climbing agility and training by scaling a ladder over a chain-link security fence, the same skills used when dogs searched the Berkman Plaza garage collapse in 2007.

J.F.R.D. Captain John Long is Storm's handler.

"He's a rubble dog. Just like 9-11. We had one at Berkman Plaza -- Jacksonville's up to four dogs now!"

It was a day to show off high tech equipment funded through state and federal grants from public safety and homeland security, and look at the multi-department capabilities to use and share that equipment.

"Number two is the teamwork. The multi-discipline," said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Dominick Pape.

"You see fire. You see emergency management. You see health, getting together to discuss 'what are the capabilities we now have in our back yard?'"

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad showed its device that can contain and withstand a bomb blast, with its robot capable of retrieving a device and laying it inside without human risk.

There were tactical tanks and watercraft. And using the sun's energy to power satellite uplinked computers and communications.

"The technology is amazing. Two to three years ago we didn't have half the equipment we have today. We couldn't communicate as well as we can today. And we didn't have the speed of technology and information," said Pape.

And whether it's a threat from nature or mankind -- the key for these men and women is to be ready. S.A.I.C. Pape says it's an ever-changing world we live in.

"And with that also comes threats. And terrorists. So we have to be prepared for that. And that's another thing here. A lot of the stuff that you see can be utilized after a terrorist event, or PRIOR to a terror event, which is the key. We want prevention. We don't want to respond!"