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| Big Rocks (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Neighbourhood Defence
Tabletop Exercise Idea
Living
in interesting times, encourages pondering interesting ideas. Our world is a
mess. A cacophony of well orchestrated crises and conflict. Interesting times, indeed,
…
Knowledge
is the best defence to fear, and to this end we will explore how-to defend our
own neighbourhood. Let’s work through planning a tabletop exercise for creating
a neighbourhood defence plan. Sounds like fun…right?
We
need a scenario, a dystopian event to create challenges and context…
For
this we will turn to Eric Walters, the author of The Rule of Three
trilogy (2014, 2015, 2016):
Here
is a trailer I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrjvkYqFq9c
The
trilogy is based on an event that impacts a community in Southern Ontario, Canada,
and the challenges the members of the community face. These books are aimed at
a young adult audience, however, the scenario presented works for all audiences
looking to create a tabletop exercise. So, before going any further go read The
RULE of THRE3 (2014), the first book in the trilogy, … we will wait.
Now,
that you have read the scenario let’s use a generic map to create a visual of a
neighbourhood we will defend in this tabletop exercise:
Now
in the book, the members of the neighbourhood had a few challenges the first
night and many nights there after. This is primarily due to the lack of a
neighbourhood plan and the time it took for organic leadership to step up into
leadership roles. Suffice to say that in a grid down scenario, those who step up
quickest will ensure they will be in a better position to control their
immediate area. Organizing a ready block emergency preparedness group in your
neighbourhood before any disaster or crisis event will go a very long way in
being ahead of the learning curve compared to unprepared neighbourhoods or
communities. Think of ready block as a neighbourhood watch with an emergency
management focus instead of a crime prevention focus. In fact, it would not be
unreasonable to blend both to protect your neighbourhood.
So,
night one you want to control access into your neighbourhood, this will require
working with your neighbours. The first night will have lots of confusion and
more questions than answers. If folks don’t belong in your neighbourhood, have
them move along and go somewhere else. Rest assured the local law enforcement
detachment will have their hands full with the problem areas. If landlines
and/or cellular phone services are offline, contacting law enforcement will be
reduced to sending a runner to request service. As members of your neighbourhood,
you can band together and protect your collective property until more
information becomes available to make a different decision.
What
would be helpful, would be a quick guide to aid in planning to defend your
neighbourhood…and today is your lucky day!! Here is a very basic guide (front):
Back:
This
basic plan gives suggestions on what to evaluate and what defensive measures
can be employed to improve the security of your neighbourhood. Notice that when
each image is printed on a single piece of paper, it can be folded into a mini
booklet to fit in your pocket.
If
the power has not returned by the third day, then by the third night you will
want to have checkpoints setup leading into your neighbourhood or community. In
the beginning, a checkpoint can be constructed by parking three vehicles to
create the necessary obstruction to slow traffic and allow members of your
neighbourhood staffing the checkpoints to inquire the purpose and destination
of the vehicle. If the occupants have nefarious objectives, they will avoid
neighbourhoods and communities that use checkpoints and go look for easier prey
in unorganized neighbourhoods.
This
is a basic checkpoint diagram (above) and the design features to be aware of
are:
· The barricades want to extend over the centre line of the roadway
· You need three barricades
· The spacing between barricades is just wide enough for a vehicle to slowly manoeuvre through an “S” turn
· The side of the highest threat gets the tightest spacing, thus requiring traffic to slowdown the most
· If the event last longer than a few nights, prepare to create permanent barricades with extra coverage and obstacles in front of the barricades to deter anyone ramming your barricades
· Also, for semi-permanent checkpoints consider having moveable barricades to block the lane until you allow traffic to enter the checkpoint
By
the fourth day, it will be becoming clear the event will take longer than hoped
to be resolved. Therefore, more attention will be needed to be organized for
the long haul to protect your neighbourhood. If you have not already begun to
organize gate guards and foot patrols, now is a great time to start. Here is a
link for setting up shift schedules: https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/bugout-location-fire-piquetsecurity.html
And here is the link to readiness fatigue: https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/emergency-readiness-readiness-endurance.html
Defending
your neighbourhood will take a group effort, both in staff and materials –
flashlights, walkie-talkies, whistles, and batteries.
If
no end is evident by the fifth day, a community meeting needs to be held to
come to a consensus to define the area that is your neighbourhood. This is best
achieved with some sort of perimeter fence. At the early stage, just having a
fence, checkpoints, and foot patrols will be adequate. As time moves on and
depending on the nature of the event and the behaviour of those outside your
neighbourhood and any official response will decide how quickly and to what
level your neighbourhood wants to maintain its independence and fortify the
perimeter fence.
If
resources are limited – labour, tools, materials, fortifying the entire
perimeter fence may be a task beyond your neighbourhood. In that case, you must
select a structure within your neighbourhood that would be the best to fortify
and use as a safe harbour in the event that everyone in the neighbourhood
requires a secure place to shelter for a short time. A school, library, hospital,
community hall, church, or motel; could all be potential structures worth the
effort to fortify.
For
this exercise, the secure area will have a perimeter fence that is 8’ to 10’
tall. Immediately inside this fence will be a turf and gravel barrier (see
diagram):
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Because
many neighbourhoods have copious quantities of lawn, a turf structure is readily
available by cutting and rolling lawn into 2’ wide strips. As seen in the diagram
above, this design has a 2’ strip on the inside and the outside, with a centre
core filled with gravel. If gravel is not available, dirt will work, but will
not have the drainage characteristic of gravel. On every third or so layer of
turf, you will want to have 2’ x 6’ strips of turf to tie the inside and outside
layers of turf together. To create a Stage One turf and gravel reinforcement,
the structure will be six feet wide and four feet tall. Planks or plywood
strips can be placed on the top for walking on.
When
extending this to a Stage Two structure the turf and gravel will be raised
another two feet: resulting in a six-foot wide by six-foot-tall barrier behind
the perimeter fence. Immediately behind the Stage Two you will want to back
fill compacted dirt to a height of five feet (5’). This can be a single slope or
terraced until the height is achieved. The Stage Two will also want ladders or
steps constructed from Turf & Gravel at regular intervals to access the top
of the wall, for foot patrols or wall guards.
To
enhance perimeter security as the event protracts, you will want early warning
of any trouble that is headed your way. Therefore, on each flank of your
neighbourhood and any approaches through dead ground will need to be watched day
and night with well constructed and camouflaged observation posts (OP). The OP’s
will need some method of communication to the neighbourhood security force or
foot patrols. Walkie-talkies could work if you have enough. Having a runner to
take written or verbal messages, is another option. Field phones would be best
if you have them. OP’s want to be far enough away to spot trouble before it
arrives at your community, but close enough for communication to be practical.
For silent night-time communication, a code using flashlight blinks back to the neighbourhood,
could work. Just do not have the receiver send messages to the OPs as this
would give away their positions to anyone who is scouting your neighbourhood for
nefarious purposes.
One last consideration to share…once you find yourself in a situation as described here, you will want to map your neighbourhood and keep a copy in your neighbourhood command post. This map will want to know which homes are occupied and which ones are not. Also map what areas outside or inside your perimeter can be exploited by invaders. You need to know where the weak areas are so reinforcement strategies can be developed to not be taken by surprise.
One
other Blog post that may be helpful here is the one on Rural Security: https://thegoodplanblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/rural-crime-in-alberta-layered-security.html
Well,
that is a good start. Read Eric Walters' trilogy and maybe we can do another post
on specific incidents beyond the initial sixty days of the story.
Keep
your head in the game!
Stay
prepared!
VAM
