Moving CAN Inland for Dams: Citizen's Action Network - A Best Practice Citizen's Watch Organization and a Benchmark for Critical Infrastructure Protection Inland

It is reckless to leave the task of combating terrorism only to the professionals when the changing nature of the threat requires that ordinary Americans play a larger support role in detecting and preventing terrorist activities.” [1]
“See something, say something” is a slogan used by multiple federal and local law enforcement organizations to emphasize the need for citizen involvement in identifying and reporting crime or suspicious activity [2]. The effectiveness of these programs varies measurably [3]. Unlike these and other basic awareness campaigns, several U.S. Coast Guard districts leverage thorough data capture and management processes and toolsets to cultivate and maintain relationships with volunteer observers through a Citizens’ Action Network [4]. With its Marina Outreach or Focused Lens programs, the USCG also determines in advance citizens who are best positioned to observe incidents when they occur [5].
The CAN program enables the USCG to communicate with observers in real time during an incident [4], thereby; minimizing nuisance calls, economizing the use of enforcement and security personnel, equipping responders with accurate information when (or before) arriving at the scene, and offering investigators multiple known witnesses for post-incident inquiries.
Not technology or additional enforcement personnel, but “grassroots” citizen engagement and the network it has created are the decisive components of this best practice watch program [4]. Public safety organizations that build relationships with citizens directly, and that implement systems which enable sustained and effective communication with them will have the information advantage in Homeland Security and antiterrorism missions.
The USCG, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation have similarly enormous areas of responsibility and limited personnel available to protect them. The USCG has created a model of effective partnership with citizens on the coast that can be as successful to the USACE, BOR and other Dams Sector members in enhancing domain awareness of the nation’s critical infrastructure inland. 15 pp. 40 references.