I was glad to see that the article in the Fire Chief magazine was quoted in this forum. I have worked in the AcTIC (Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center) since it's inception, and can tell you that we are very proud of what we have built out here. With all of the AZ links to 9-11, we had to get much better at communicating between all agencies, and we had to do it fast. (AZ is cited 59 separate times in the 9-11 Commission report)

We have been operational since 2004, and continue to make improvements to our system. I am saddened to see some of the other posts about the lack of information getting out to the line level officers, from other centers around the country. With the federal agencies and all the state and local agencies all in one building it makes information sharing very simple and easy. Sometimes we in law enforcement make information sharing too difficult a task than what it has to be... we put up barriers where they don't need to be between levels of government and other agencies.

As mentioned in the Fire Chief magazine, our Center also includes a very close knit partnership with the states Fire Agencies. I ask the states that don't have close ties with their fire agencies, is where is all your information coming from then? Partnering with the Fire agencies and Private Security increases your "eyes & ears" out in the State and builds your protective lines and levels of security around your state.

I can't think of too many things that other states come to AZ for to learn how to do things right... and we aren't saying that we have all the correct answers, but we know we have a great program out here, and we continue to evaluate what is working and what doesn't and we change from there. Our citizens in AZ expect it from us, and we are doing everything we can to keep AZ Safe.