"This is the type of thing we never thought we'd have to deal with,” remarked Detective Craig H. Long, of the Suffern, NY police on the subject of responding to calls about anthrax.  The bioterrorism threat is a new reality for first responders all around the country.  Firefighters, police, and emergency services personnel are conducting specialized training and procuring biohazard equipment to deal with it and the costs are quickly rising.

But what is being done about providing something that is virtually free – information?  How are firefighters, EMS and police handling dissemination of facts about bioterrorism?  Are they getting the word out?

A search of over 50 web sites for fire and EMS from our nation’s largest cities and police departments from cities and states reveals the answer is an overwhelming “no.”  I found information about bioterrorism or anthrax only on five first responder homepages!  Another five had links for reporting on terrorism. The rest had nothing at all about bioterrorism or anthrax. 

I’ll give a brief rundown on the sites that did provide information then provide some reasons why I think departments are silent on bioterrorism over the web. 

Two Best Sites for Bioterrorism

Santa Monica Police Department at http://santamonicapd.org/.  The homepage has a link for anthrax right in the middle of the page.  The link takes you to a page that discusses anthrax in plain terms and gives great step by step “how to” advice on what to do about bioterrorism, how to open packages, etc. 

Los Angeles Fire Department http://www.lafd.org/. Like the Santa Monica Police Department, provides a prominent link that takes you to another page with information about anthrax and mail handling guidelines. 

Runners Up

Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department (Prince George’s County, Maryland) at http://www.co.pg.md.us/Safety/Fire/index.html.  This site has a prominent link that takes you to a page with facts about anthrax and small pox.

Maryland State Police Department at http://www.inform.umd.edu/UMS+State/MD_Resources/MDSP/.  Contains a link titled “what to do about suspicious mail.”

NY City Police Department at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/home.html.  Contains a link about suspicious mail and another link to a state information page on anthrax.

 When I first conducted this search, I started with the fire and police departments in areas that had been affected by the anthrax attacks.  I was shocked to find that only three sites had any information.   I was even more shocked to find that the best information came from two sites out in California, almost as far away from the attacks as you can get.  Also, for many sites it’s business as usual, with no mention of recent terrorist attacks at all.  (Some police department homepages did have links for reporting terrorism.)

Here are some speculative answers to the lack of information.

Relatively Small Threat.  Compared to house fires, traffic accidents, and crime in general, the chances of getting a letter with anthrax are very small.  Thus, the most important information to provide is on basic safety issues which haven’t changed since Sept 11th and this is what first responder home pages are still focusing on.

Public Outreach.  Especially for the fire departments, these web sites seem to be geared at engaging the public in a positive manner.  There are exciting photos of firefighters and links to pictures of trucks and other equipment.  For the police departments, the overriding message is “we do good things for the public and you want to be one of us.” Putting information about anthrax might scare off visitors who are really only searching for jazzy photos of fire equipment or are interested in a public safety career.

Let the Experts Do the Talking.  Another possibility is that the departments are making a conscious decision to let the Center for Disease Control or other government agencies with more bioterrorism expertise put out information about this threat. 

IT Systems and Web Updates.  Finally, it could be a matter of resources.  Since so many web sites didn’t look like they had been updated in any way since Sept 11th, money might be the issue.  I’m not sure how many fire, EMS, and police departments have their own webmasters: there could be relatively few.  Also, with first responders stretched thin, including information about bioterrorism could be a matter of time and priority.