NJ Responders Get Bar-Coded IDs for Times of Chaos

MONTVALE - The borough has decided to provide ID cards to all its emergency services workers under Bergen County's First Responder Identification Card program.

The county initiative provides a standardized identification system to participating municipalities.

"We just want to make sure that all the first responders have some kind of ID, because we have expanded emergency management programs," Councilman Roger Fyfe said. "So this is going to be a universal ID system that identifies everybody who's certified, qualified and able to be a first responder."

Fyfe said the borough joined the project last week.

More than 40 municipalities are now involved, and about 3,000 cards have been issued, Bergen County spokeswoman Mabel Aragon said. The $500,000 program was funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security, she added.

"These cards allow us to have more control of who is going in and out of an emergency site, whether it's a municipal official, fire or police department," Aragon said.

Dwane Razzetti of the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management said the universal ID cards are needed because of the county's many municipalities.

"With 70 towns, 69 fire departments, 73 police agencies and 65 ambulance corps, we had no way to verify if someone was a first responder before this program," Razzetti said.

Such precautions are necessary, officials say.

"In this day and age, with terrorism potential, it's really needed," Borough Administrator Jack Doyle said of the program. "Anybody, including a terrorist, can identify themselves as a first responder. But with this ID card, they will know that you are legitimate."

River Vale police Capt. Michael McCann, whose department is participating in the initiative, agreed.

"Post-9/11, it's vital to have these documents that are secure, because with technology today people can make up any kind of identification," McCann said.

The laminated cards have a holographic Bergen County seal and official logos from the respective municipalities. They also have a bar code that contains information about the responder. The cards have a pattern of fine red-and-blue lines, similar to what is used on U.S. currency, making it difficult to reproduce with copying and scanning equipment.

River Vale Police Chief Aaron Back lauded the ID card effort.

"My ID card has a bar code on the back, and they would know by swiping it how much training I have and where I could go during a disaster," he said.

Councilman James Kimball said such ID cards can increase efficiency in an emergency.

"If you get in a situation where there's a dire need for, say, a certain type of truck operator or equipment operator, this is a way they can determine if someone could possibly help," Kimball said. "Instead of having to call the local jurisdiction or getting them to fax a letter out confirming that this person is qualified, it's just a way to streamline that by having some type of consistent identification for everybody."

The county program results from an effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop national standards for emergency worker ID cards in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

"You read about those morons that were on 9/11 posing as cops and firemen and stealing stuff," Fyfe said. "If you let somebody in who doesn't belong there, you could have a problem. But if you don't let somebody in that could do some good, you could also have a problem. First responders are the first people on the scene, so you don't want to spend too much time dilly-dallying about who they are."

E-mail: dawkins@northjersey.com