For the purpose of this article, the following
terms are defined as follows:
AIDING MUNICIPALITY
The municipality furnishing personnel and equipment to the
stricken municipality.
CIVIL EMERGENCY
A riot or unlawful assembly characterized by the use of actual
force or violence or any threat to use force, if accompanied by the
immediate power to execute such force by three or more persons acting
together without authority of law, and/or any natural disaster or
man-made calamity, including flood, conflagration, cyclone, tornado,
earthquake or explosion, within the limits of the Township of Upper
Gwynedd, resulting in the death or injury of persons or the destruction
of property to such an extent that extraordinary measures must be
taken to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the residents
of Upper Gwynedd Township.
COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
An agreement, as provided for in this article, whereby the
participating municipalities in the program agree to come to one another's
assistance in emergency situations which are too large for local equipment
and personnel to handle.
The Chief of the Upper Gwynedd Township Police
Department, with the approval of the Board of Commissioners, is authorized
on behalf of Upper Gwynedd Township to enter into and, from time to
time, to alter and amend an agreement with any or all of the municipalities
party to such agreement in order to define and put into effect a mutual
aid program in accordance with the guidelines of this article.
The Chief of Police of the Upper Gwynedd Township
Police Department or the Deputy Chief, in his absence, shall have
the following power and authority:
A. To request assistance from other participating municipalities
in the event an emergency situation, as defined herein, occurs within
Upper Gwynedd Township.
B. To be in charge of all personnel sent to Upper Gwynedd
Township from the aiding municipalities in response to the request
for assistance.
C. To provide sufficient personnel to a stricken municipality,
when requested to do so, in such manner that sufficient Police Department
personnel are retained within Upper Gwynedd Township in order to meet
any situation of emergency within the boundaries of Upper Gwynedd
Township that may reasonably be anticipated.
D. To join with the Chiefs of Police of the other participating
municipalities in order to establish the procedure necessary to implement
this cooperative agreement and to formulate the other provisions to
be contained in said cooperative agreement, in accordance with the
provisions of this article.
Police personnel responding to a request for
assistance in any participating municipality shall have the same authority
as the police officers in that particular participating municipality.
Upper Gwynedd Township shall pay the costs of
its own personnel called to duty in a stricken municipality under
the cooperative agreement. Each participating municipality shall provide
insurance covering all liability of its personnel under emergency
situations as defined in this article. This section shall also include
the costs of equipment utilized by respective participating municipalities.