On September 11, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and public safety officials dedicated the District’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in honor of Kerry A. Payne, a former D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) Deputy Operations Chief.

In addition to his work on behalf of the District, Payne was an active regional leader at COG and served as the first chairman of the National Capital Region Operations Center Coordination Group. The group was created in 2007 to address coordination issues among local, state, and federal government agencies during emergencies. 

According to his colleagues at COG, Payne was an expert at building relationships and brought that talent to the group, helping forge agreement between centers. The group also standardized the information sharing platforms that area operations centers use, such as the Regional Incident Communication and Coordination System (RICCS), citizen alert systems, and WebEOC. In 2002 in collaboration with COG, Payne helped lead the creation of the RICCS system, a 24/7 system that allows officials to communicate before, during, and after emergencies, and was the foundation for the citizen alert systems now in place across the region.

For more information, please view the District of Columbia news advisory.