Page 106 - JSOM Summer 2020

Preparations for a Controversial Speaker
and Anticipated Volatility in a College Town

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John Slish, MD *; Charles Hwang, MD ; Liam Holtzman, DO ; Jason Jones, MD ;
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Daniel Stout ; Benjamin Abo, DO ; Matthew Ryan, MD, PhD 7
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ABSTRACT
In summer of 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, white nation- unfolded, the nation watched UF and the city of Gainesville
alists clashed with counterprotestors, ultimately leading to the prepare and respond to anticipated protestors and counterpro-
death of three people and leaving 34 more injured. Soon after, testors in a small college town.
the same group was granted permission to speak on the cam-
pus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Despite Planning and Preparation
our college town having limited resources and personnel, the
comprehensive and extensive preparation preceding the event Preparations for the event began 4 months in advance (the
ensured a peaceful resolution for such a large and potentially original event had been postponed due to Hurricane Irma);
volatile situation. The preparatory steps required joint efforts these preparations were based on the National Incident Man-
from local and state partners in law enforcement, emergency agement System (NIMS). NIMS was designed by the Federal
medical services, and emergency departments. We describe Emergency Management Agency and Department of Home-
here the situation we faced, the pre-event preparations, the re- land Security as a comprehensive, standardized, flexible, and
sponse in the field and in our emergency department, and the scalable approach to incident preparedness, resource manage-
outcomes from an emergency and tactical medicine perspec- ment, and response (Table 1). The framework is designed to
tive. We hope our successful experience will impart knowledge coordinate multiagency, multijurisdictional responses while
for similar events. focusing on key mission areas, which include prevention,
protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. Moreover,
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Keywords: TCCC; TECC; mass casualty incident; event med- NIMS’ companion document, the National Response Frame-
icine; tactical medicine, National Incident Management work, has robust provisions for incidents of greater complex-
System ity than routine incidents and how to effectively manage an
all-hazards response.

A “Unified Command” was established on the basis of the
Introduction
NIMS framework. Unified Command refers to a leadership
In August 2017, white nationalists who opposed a plan by strategy that allows each agency with responsibility for an inci-
officials to remove a Civil War monument, gathered for a dent to assign an incident commander to a Unified Command
march in the college town of Charlottesville, Virginia. Soon organization, which then provides leadership via an integrated
after, partisan groups clashed with counterprotesters. During team approach rather than via a single incident commander.
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the conflict, a car was deliberately driven into a crowd of The Unified Command establishes a common set of incident
counter protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring objectives and strategies that all agencies can adopt without
another 19 people. The event ended with three people dead sacrificing each agency’s authority, responsibility, or account-
and 34 people injured. Later that day, the governor of Virginia ability. This is especially important in multijurisdictional or
declared a state of emergency. This event was one of several multiagency incidents where greater complexity necessitates
similar protests in May and July of that year. 1 Unified Command. 6

After these events, a key organizer of the Charlottesville event The Unified Command for this event consisted of the UF
set his sights on another college town: Gainesville, Florida. Police Department (UFPD), Alachua County Sheriff’s Office
The leader of the group requested to speak at the University (ACSO), Gainesville Police Department (GPD), Florida High-
of Florida (UF), a public university that initially opposed his way Patrol, Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR), and Gaines-
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presence, citing safety concerns. After a legal dispute, the uni- ville Fire Rescue (GFR). UFPD, ACSO, and GPD are local law
versity was required, under the First Amendment, to permit enforcement agencies in Gainesville, a city located in Alachua
him to speak on campus. As the events of October 19, 2017, County, Florida. GFR is an urban, advanced life support,
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*Correspondence to Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, 1329 SW 16th Street, PO Box 100186,
Gainesville, FL 32610-0186 or jslish@ufl.edu
1 Dr Slish is at Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, and Gainesville Police Department, Gainesville, FL.
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2 Dr Hwang is at Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr Holtzman is at Department of Emergency
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Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, and Alachua County Sherriff’s Office, Gainesville. Dr Jones is at Department of Emergency
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Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, and Alachua County Fire Rescue, Gainesville. Mr Stout is at Gainesville Police Department,
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Gainesville. Dr Abo is at Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville Fire Rescue, and University
of Florida Police Department. Dr Ryan is at Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine.
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