5-06/020.51 - Area Command Team

An Area Command Team consists of one Commander who is assigned duties as the officer in charge (OIC).  The OIC shall be responsible for the tactical deployment of all law enforcement assets within a specified area of operations.  Assisting the OIC shall be a Deputy OIC with the rank of Captain.  The Deputy OIC shall act in the absence of the officer in charge and supervise additional staff functions when activated (i.e., Public Information, Liaison Officer, Scribe, etc.).  The following components each consist of one Lieutenant and two Sergeants:

• The intelligence component is responsible for the gathering, recording, evaluating and disseminating of pertinent information relating to the incident;
• The operations component is responsible for the planning, assignment, coordination, execution and evaluation of tactical missions; and
• The Logistics component is responsible for the acquisition, identification, tracking and staging of all personnel and logistical assets.

Area Command Teams are activated at the discretion of the Department Incident Commander (Department Operations Center Chief).  Particularly large incidents or multiple incidents may require the activation of more than one team.

Generally, a team will be activated whenever:

• The incident is particularly complex in nature;
• The incident requires the resources of more than one Station/Unit; and
• The incident is multi-jurisdictional or multidisciplinary in nature.

The Area Command Team is designed to remove the burden of managing extraordinary incidents from a Station/Unit.  It does not relieve the local command from those responsibilities inherent in its normal operations.  Generally, functions of the Area Command Team are limited to:

• General law enforcement activities specifically pertaining to the incident;
• Traffic and access (security) control; and/or
• Evacuations.

Other functions may be assigned at the direction of the Department Incident Commander.

The Area Command Team is an integral component of the Incident Command System and works directly for the Department Incident Commander.  When activated, the team fulfills a support role of the field operations section.  Normally, the Station/Unit Emergency Operations Center is subordinate to the Area Command Team.  The only exception is when the incident is confined to the jurisdiction of the single Station, in which case the Station/Unit EOC is a separate but equal component within the Incident Command System.