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INDIANAPOLIS - All Rep. Bill Ruppel did was make some suggestions to make the state's emergency response system operate a little smoother. The next thing he knew he was spending most weekends in the state capital ironing out details to streamline the system for the Governor.
"The problem now is no one person can make a decision the case of a terrorist attack or a terrible natural disaster," Ruppel said this afternoon following Gov. Mitch Daniels's proposal to reorganize homeland security and emergency management efforts.
"We've applied for grants and received them and then seven people would argue about how the money was to be distributed. We had 10 or 12 agencies to handle each kind of threat or attack and no coordination between them."
One duplication the proposal cuts out like a surgical incision is inspections by both the state building inspector and the state fire marshal.
"I know of one factory being built where building services went in and changed plans the fire inspector had approved. So the owners tore things out and were about done when fire marshal came in and said, "Hey, put everything back the way it was!'
This is just costing business too much. Business owners will just quit and leave. Now (with the Division of Fire and Building Safety) the building and fire inspectors will work out of same office. Petitioners will work with one inspector who will cover the fire and building codes all at once."
Ruppel said the thought is to have one leader to coordinate state, sheriff's and local police, fire, emergency medical and health departments and National Guard units. Local emergency response directors like Ed Rock will have a state-approved plan. The homeland security director will be fully aware of all the state's resources.
One way to facilitate that information is for citizens to sign up on the Indiana Alert Network, www.ian.in.gov, Ruppel said. IAN is pilot program that allows citizens, government officials, municipal employees to say they'd like to be alerted in case of emergency. They also can list their skills to help others.
"Say something happened in Fort Wayne and the city needed Warsaw to go on alert and help them. With the alert system hospitals, police, firemen can be advised of a situation within two to three minutes. Businesses vital to the support system can be notified in case of an emergency," the representative said.
"Say someone's livestock comes down with a disease, with a list of resources we can determine whether it is a local outbreak, spreading across the state or an act of terrorism."
Citizens who join IAN will receive daily, e-mailed information about homeland security throughout the United States as well as in Indiana.
Ruppel, who served as a reserve police officer for 25 years and as a volunteer fireman for 33 years, said safety is something that is always on his mind.
"Anyone who puts their life on the line, needs someone to stand up for them," he said.
"Gov Daniels helped set up the national homeland security system. His input will put Indiana at the forefront of state-level homeland security. Others will come here and pattern themselves after us."
