Tactics, command, leadership

on the rights of others’ as regulated by the Civil Protection Act
provides the incident commander with considerable authorities
under certain circumstances and one should exercise these au-
thorities with moderation.
The Swedish Penal Code (1962:700) also permits lesser and ur-
gent infringements if necessary. The Penal Code, however, grants
no authorities. This entails that measures that would otherwise
have been punishable by law, may under certain conditions be
conducted without being subject to punishment, even though
such measures nonetheless constitute criminal behaviour. Note
that this is a contingency stipulation that cannot be used as a ba-
sis for conducting planned operations. Here there is no distinction
between rescue personnel and the general public.
Definition of an emergency response operation must be based
on actively taking a position. Besides the criteria in rescue service
legislation, this taking of a position should embrace resources,
damage and objects. Note that this taking of a position ultimately
concerns a municipal structure for providing rescue service’s abil-
ity to handle the entire need of assistance that can arise as a result
of emergencies. This need of assistance must therefore be central
for conducting emergency response operations and for assessment
of what is and what is not an emergency response operation.