2 Discussions and One Reflection Post

Module 1: Current Issues

Public safety administrators today are faced with a host of current issues: natural disasters, active shooters, and even terrorism threats. Their jobs require them not only to react to any and all threats, but to anticipate what could take place in the future.

The horrific event of 9/11 was something that public safety experts didn't see coming. As the 9/11 Commission reported, no one could have imagined planes being used as missiles. The 9/11 aftermath and other events have led public safety officials into the homeland security realm, where they deal with everything from a foreign terrorist organization to a pair of teenagers on a killing spree. Public safety administrators have to be aware of their environment to prevent incidents and to be prepared to handle whatever happens in their communities.

Before homeland security became a fixture in our lives, natural disasters were, and still are, a constant challenge in the public safety arena. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was formed in 1979 to "support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards" (FEMA, 2011). FEMA works with federal partners as well as local and state agencies, and provides training for public safety officials to help them prepare for terrorist attacks, chemical or biological releases, or natural disasters. FEMA is also poised to provide assistance to communities suffering from one of these events. Public safety administrators can use partnerships with local, state, and federal departments to better prepare their personnel. Administrators need to ensure that emergency management at the local and state level is involved in preplanning and response.

Natural disasters are less predictable. Officials learn about the approach of hurricanes in most cases, but tornadoes can come out of nowhere if conditions are right. Ignoring the possibilities of events cannot be a management option. At over $380 billion, the world economic cost of disasters in 2011 was the highest in history, according to the United Nations. This figure was two-thirds higher than the previous record in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck the southern United States (ABC News, 2011). The loss to human lives was equally astounding for the same time period.

This video on tsunami waves gives a graphic look at what natural disasters can do—this one occurred in 2011. We have seen the devastation from tornadoes. In this video, a woman describes how she lived through a tornado. She had heard but ignored the tornado warnings.

Other public safety issues abound, including incidents at schools and other public places. The rise in active shooters requires a different way of handling an active crime scene, since waiting to take action can result in additional deaths. Handling such issues requires a proactive approach. A county fire department in Virginia has a medical response team to respond to an active shooter event. These medics regularly train with the police to ensure a prompt, safe response to an incident.

Public safety officials and departments are discovering other issues that need to be addressed. Here's one example: a federal requirement for fire departments that mandated health care insurance for volunteers. It appears that this problem has been rectified, but again, it is hard to predict the future.

Another issue relates to funding and revenue sources. Increasing constraints are an issue for police, fire, and emergency management departments, which are finding that they are forced to do more with less. As additional pressures mount to reduce the federal deficit, federal programs may soon be under similar scrutiny. The article "How to Cope with Reduced Federal Funding" describes how reduced federal funding requires creative solutions.

Finally, public safety administrators face another problem that affects them close to home. An Internet search under the terms "fire departments stealing money" turns up a total of 21,800,000 results.

Antonio Conte, the chief of the fire department in Stamford, Connecticut, had to deal with a situation when members of his department were charged with stealing emergency lights from vehicles. Conte said that he has to try to "keep relations between the fire services—already strained by a citywide consolidation of the volunteers and career firefighters—from suffering as a result" (Nickerson, 2013).

More Class Material

"Wicked Problems - Problems Worth Solving": https://www.wickedproblems.com/1_wicked_problems.php

"Police Leadership in a Changing World" https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/238338.pdf

"Four Forgotten Public Safety Issues" http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/forgotten-public-safety-issues-article-1.1439801