Mutual Aid: Multijurisdictional Partnerships for Meeting Regional Threats

• NCJ Number: 210679
• Author(s): Phil Lynn
• Date Published: September 2005
• Length: 48 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2003-DD-BX-K002
• Agencies: BJA
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This report discusses the use of mutual aid agreements and multijurisdictional partnerships for managing regional threats.

Abstract

Mutual aid agreements are nothing new to law enforcement agencies, which have traditionally used such agreements on a limited basis to organize investigations or task forces. Mutual aid agreements can be used to manage the regional threat of domestic and international terrorism. Information sharing among various law enforcement agencies throughout a region enables essential connections in information to be made that could potentially thwart an attack. In planning mutual aid agreements, it is essential that agencies define their participation requirements, assess vulnerabilities and potential deployment needs, establish oversight and management authority, and identify training and funding requirements. This report outlines how to establish a mutual aid agreement, including tips for meeting the jurisdictional approval process and for drafting the agreement. The terms and conditions of mutual aid agreements are discussed and examples are offered to illustrate main points. Predeployment conditions and the activation of the mutual aid plan are examined and the importance of establishing an incident command system is underscored. Finally, examples of promising practices in mutual aid agreements are presented. The appendix offers a sample mutual aid agreement. Appendix, endnotes