[Archived] Alexandria Becomes First City in United States to Implement New System to Authenticate Credentials of First Responders At Emergency Scene

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	April 3, 2007 PIO# 081-07/rdo	Steve Mason, Director of Communications, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

Alexandria Becomes First City in United States to Implement New System
to Authenticate Credentials of First Responders At Emergency Scene
FRAC Identification Card Encoded with Critical Data Obtained Using Hand-Held Device

Alexandria has become the first city in the United States to implement a new system that authenticates the credentials of first responders at an emergency scene. Credentials are authenticated using the First Responder Authentication Credentials (FRAC) identification card, which is issued to responders and encoded with critical data obtained using a wireless, hand-held device. Information from the card enables emergency response commanders to:

1. securely establish the identity of emergency responders at the scene of an incident,

2. confirm the qualifications and expertise of first responders, allowing incident commanders to dispatch them quickly and appropriately, and

3. enhance the cooperation and efficiency between state and local first responders and their federal counterparts.

“As a key community in the National Capitol Region, it is critical that Alexandria’s emergency services coordinate effectively with federal and state agencies as well as other municipalities,” said Mark Penn, the City’s Emergency Management Coordinator. “The FRAC identification card is an important tool for effective and secure response in emergencies.”

The City issued the FRAC identification card to approximately 1,000 of its emergency service workers as part of the First Responder Partnership Initiative in coordination with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Capitol Region, the Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia’s Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, and Arlington County. The identification card enables quick, authorized access from emergency scenes across multiple jurisdictions and agencies. The initiative, which is being piloted by the National Capital Region, will be expanding nationwide.

Johnson Controls, Inc. served as the lead contractor for the project and provided credentials to Alexandria’s emergency responders within three weeks.

“By taking the best practices and lessons learned from Arlington and working closely with Alexandria, the Alexandria and Johnson Controls team did an excellent job of communicating and coordinating with the emergency responder community to make this go smoothly,” says Gary Schworm, Johnson Controls FRAC Team Leader.

The First Responder Partnership Initiative grew out of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which states that wide variations in the quality and security in forms of identification used to gain access to secure facilities need to be eliminated. HSPD-12 outlines a policy to enhance security, increase government efficiency, reduce identity fraud, and protect personal privacy by establishing a mandatory, government-wide standard for secure and reliable forms of identification issued by the federal government to its employees and contractors.

The effort is the first time that state and local emergency responders have received the federally-approved credential for a city involving multiple emergency support functions.

For more information on the City’s implementation of FRAC, call Mark Penn, Emergency Management Coordinator, at 703-706-3940, extension 283.

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