43rd Ryder Cup 2021

Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) accounted for response agencies at the 43rd Ryder Cup at the Whistling Straits in Haven, Wisconsin. Salamander was utilized to know who was at the event and what they were assigned to do.

Salamander Solutions Used

• SalamanderLive™
• TRACK APP
• RAPID TAG EVAC
• COMMAND

Outcome

In late September, federal employees and agencies from Wisconsin and neighboring states came to assist with the Ryder Cup. Assistance included personnel from Sheboygan County, WI, National Weather Service, FBI, DCI, State Patrol, 54 Civil Support Team, and more. Steve Steinhardt, Director of Emergency Management with Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department, said that “in a nutshell, [Salamander] came in handy knowing if everyone showed up for the day, if everyone left for the day, is everyone in their spots, and who is taking over for who.”

Personnel from Wisconsin were pre-credentialed through the state’s WICAMS credentialing system (statewide access to SalamanderLive) and those credentials were used to check into the event. To account for federal partners who did not have a Salamander credential, RAPID TAG was used to scan driver’s licenses to quickly create an event credential on the fly. Steve Steinhardt mentioned that “the credentialing in and of itself has got to be the easiest point-and-click pieces of software that is web-based that I have used…”.

It was important for the K9 units who were on-site to be credentialed and accounted for as well. Using RAPID TAG, a credential for each K9 was created that included their name, agency they represented, and their handler. “There are people here that we don’t see very often since they are from all over. We were able to capture their name and the K9 that was affiliated with them. If we needed to know who the handler and K9 was to get a hold of them on the radio, we were able to look it up,” said Steve Steinhardt.

At the end the day, the TRACK APP was used to check people out if the RAPID TAG stations were closed for the night. Steve Fenske, East Central Region Director with Wisconsin Emergency Management, also mentioned that “…using the TRACK APP was great at accounting for our State Troopers, as I had access to their organization and could pull up their personnel in the app and add them in for each shift that they worked.”

At the end of the Ryder Cup, after-action reports and analysis were created by using data pulled from SalamanderLive. “[SalamanderLive] helps with the after-action side of it as well because the executive-type committees […] know that security is there and have an idea of what we do. But the report really shows the labor intensity of it, so for future events they know what they need,” said Steve Steinhardt.