2016 Ohio PIO Symposium today!

This year, a smaller NEOhio PIO contingent attending the conference in Columbus.

So it’s just James and I holding down the fort! (T-R-O-U-B-L-E)

But check out that #AlohaFriday wear!
Reporting live from Cbus…
“All I’m saying is that starting in Ohio and to the rest of the country, we have the ability to better prepare our peeps for disasters or emergencies.” – K. Sur

We all have outstanding communities in each of our 88 counties in Ohio. When they engage with numerous all-hazards public safety professionals, it becomes a whole community effort in preparedness. In essence, these are core programs that everyone can participate.

When the community gets involved, everyone wins.

So c’mon – get involved in your community.
CERT: Community Emergency Response Team
ViPS: Volunteers in Police Service
MRC: Medical Reserve Corp
VOAD: Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Neighborhood Watch Program
Veterans Active in Citizen Corps
Meals on Wheels Association of America

“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
It’s still the third week of 2016 National Preparedness Month!
Trust me, you don’t need to wait for the earthquakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven (to) shake – just attend a few classes with local emergency management.

Don’t get frustrated…Preparedness is easy!
But seriously.
These classes can help better prepare you for many natural disasters, hazards, and/or common emergencies.

At the very least, they can detail what kind of actions will be taken by first responders in the response phase of the disaster.
In today’s class, we had a spirited discussion about MREs and preparedness kits. Even first responders and their respective families need emergency preparedness kits too.
Most of these short classes or day-long trainings are often free and scheduled well in advance. And if you can’t attend in-person trainings, there are many online classes available for no-cost on preparedness.

Yep, you guessed it, straight up good old networking with so many public safety pros.

“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
I frequently present to Public Information Officers / Public Affairs Officers (PIOs & PAOs) across the country and talk extensively about preparedness.

For those that were wondering about the class attire, many of my classes get scheduled on a Friday aka #AlohaFriday
Proud to say that so many of them love the job and enjoy sharing ways to increase safety in all communities with FEMA’s Ready.Gov Program.

Your local Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, and Emergency Management agencies are a great starting point for preparedness activities. Then all state safety agencies and Federal partners cooperate top down with many key organizations across the country.
That’s right. Local works with state works with regional works with national.
Happy #AlohaFriday peeps!

“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
Tomorrow is the start of the 2016 National Preparedness Month. MY FAVORITE MONTH!

For those in public safety, this is an incredibly important month where we highlight preparedness efforts for all of our personnel and general public.

If you’ve sat in any of my classes before, you know that I am passionate about sharing the message of preparedness.

Lots of big plans including a special trip to Washington DC. Details to follow.

What the what?

Hi Craig-You know I double-checked my emergency preparedness kit. #NatlPrep #PrepareAthon
Everyone is participating. Everyone.
So I hope you join all of us in this national effort and participate because your friends and family look to you for good preparedness information.
“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
Yesterday, I supported Cleveland Police on the #PrideInTheCLE #ClevelandPride event in Public Square.

Much different from the Republican National Convention.

Lots of families out and about (and enjoying) the new cool fountain in downtown Cleveland.

Everyone was having a great time.

Lots of speculation and talk about public safety not being around to support the LGBT community – all totally false. Public Safety will be there to support any community.

Trust me, lots of public safety was on hand to support our entire community.
Cleveland Police Bomb Squad and K9 teams…

Cleveland EMS…

..even the Cleveland Police bike patrol was out supporting the day’s events.

Lots of areas to cover.

Partnerships with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department and Cleveland Police Department are key in providing safety for everyone who attended the event.

It was a relatively hot day so I am glad that many of the participants dressed appropriately for the event.

Some not so much.

Fun entertainment and friendly people staying cool out in Public Square.

While waiting around, we had some time for a quick PIO selfie…

Also had time for a few interviews with local media.

Also happy to run into a long time good friend Mark Zinni who is the anchor for the Channel 3 Eyewitness News in Hartford, Connecticut. Great to see him again.

Thanks for the picture Zinni!
Can’t wait to see him again in Cleveland.
While out there, we even made a few new peeps into Junior Police Officers.

Thanks Ken!
We were fortunate enough to do a few live interviews on Periscope from Public Square.

We highlighted the event and gave a status report of the operations using Periscope.
Ever wonder what it’s like to hang with onscene PIOs? Here’s a behind the scenes shot of us doing some live interviews on Periscope.

Thanks for the action shot Zinni!
Trust me, it’s harder than it looks.
Overall, it was great to see so many people out on a Saturday afternoon in Cleveland.

As always, I had a great time working the PIO magic with Jen!
We make a pretty good team huh?
Hope everyone stayed dry while the rain hit.

Great safe event everyone!

Have a great weekend!
Lots of BSery going on.
@TKDMike pushed this image out on 07-16-16 at 1902 EST trying to portray that Cleveland is burning dumpsters tonight for the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Orig tweet w/ image found here
That image looked weird to me.
So let’s look a little closer shall we?
A simple online search found this exact image used multiple times.
Once as a meme for protesters in the UK

Made into a UK Meme
Yep. That’s weird.
Then the same image, slightly better quality found on imgur from 10 months ago.

From imgur
Again, double weird.
Then I found the original.

On flickr by Brian Neumann (2011)
Game-7 from the Stanley Cup in 2011. Appropriate photo credit to Brian Neumann.
In the initial @tkdmike post from 07-16-16, he has embellished the image and added the Quicken Loans Arena logo and an RNC2016 logo to the dumpster. Additionally, behind the gal on the right is also a photoshopped sign for Trump2016. **Clearly against the orig photo by Brian CA Neumann on 06-16-2011 on Flickr. The sign should not read “Trump 2016”, it should read “Sunrise Kitchens” – also note the hockey jersey.
Doctoring images to push political agenda or incite fear = not cool.
Canada image from 2011 –> fake it to be a Cleveland image in 2016 = not cool.
It’s going to be a long NSSE.
Reporting live from the JIC…..
One thing that bothers me is idiots who park in front of a hydrant.

Not like 30-seconds, but more like hours and hours and hours.
THIS IS A BLATANT DISREGARD FOR SAFETY!

So I called my friends at Chicago Fire Engine-35, Truck-28, Ambulance-62, Battalion-17 who advised that I call Chicago Police and inform them.

So I did. Chicago Police promptly showed up and ticketed the car. #booya

Hey Jagoff – enjoy your $150 ticket #0964100A (Within 15′ of fire hydrant).
Then a tow truck (hook) showed up and made my night because….

…I now have full hydrant access again.
Hey Jagoff! Now enjoy your $150 charge for towing your vehicle and $20 storage fee.
Expensive night out for your blatant disregard of public safety. Hope it was worth it.
Friendly reminder to anyone: Don’t park in front of fire hydrants. Ever.
July is here. OMG. It’s crunch time!
First week I’ll be in Cleveland for a few planning meetings and off to Chicago for my favorite ER MD’s retirement party.
Second week I’ll be deployed with DHS/FEMA for External Affairs.
Third week is the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland where I’ll be supporting our all-hazards public safety professionals.
Fourth week I’ll head down to Missouri to teach some social media in Region-7 baby! Indeed no rest for the weary.

With the RNC in Cleveland, July will be an incredibly challenging month for all public safety peeps.