Public Safety Blog - Public Safety Discussion

National Dialogue on Preparedness

2010 Aug 5 Posted by Charles

The Department of Homeland Security and FEMA are hosting a National Dialogue on Preparedness.

Please join the conversation at:
http://preparedness.ideascale.com/

Joint Degree and B.S. to M.S. Degree Options

2010 Aug 3 Posted by Charles

New and exciting Capella University public safety degree options:

Joint degree in Public Safety
A new joint degree—the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Science (MS) in Public Safety—enables learners to earn 2 complementary master’s degrees in less time and at less cost than pursuing the 2 degree programs separately. The joint degree program emphasizes multidisciplinary and collaborative skills that address the cross-sector challenges of public service.

Additional combined degree options
Capella is also launching several new combined degree options that allow eligible learners in certain bachelor’s degree programs to begin earning master’s-level credits after completing at least 100 undergraduate credits. The new combined degree option includes the BS in Public Safety to MS in Public Safety.

Finally, learners can add value to a Capella degree and enhance their career opportunities by pursuing more than one specialization in their program. They can, use electives to earn an additional specialization for little additional time or cost, and apply core knowledge already learned toward more than one specialization.

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Technological Disasters

2010 Jul 14 Posted by Charles

As technology advances at warp speed, have we taken the time to ensure a commensurate disaster response and recovery to our astounding technological advances? Deep sea drilling is one example where our advances may have far surpassed our response and recovery capabilities. The ongoing catastrophe in the Gulf was caused by just one of thousands of deep sea wells and one that isn’t even the deepest oil well in the seas!

A recent article on technology and disasters discusses the impact that hubris might have on the current Gulf oil spill catastrophe. Aside from safety often being a secondary consideration, as we advance technologically I wonder if we have taken the time to consider the impact of our advances on the planet. It isn’t a far stretch of the imagination for me to see how the current massive Gulf oil leak, unabated, could have dire consequences for the world’s oceans and ecosystems. Are we experiencing the height of hubris in our belief that we have mastered technology? Do we even care or is our preparedness something that is best left as an afterthought. Then, as the article suggests, we can lament that we should have seen that disaster coming!

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Hospital Emergency Evacuation, Assessment and Recovery

2010 Jun 27 Posted by Charles

I just received the newsletter below from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Please contact Jennifer for additional information:
Jennifer.Felsher@ahrq.hhs.gov or 301-427-1859

Deciding whether or not and when to evacuate a hospital during an emergency situation can be a daunting one, as can the decision of when it is safe to return after the event. New resources from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are available to help hospital administrators and facility planners make these critical decisions.

The “Hospital Evacuation Decision Guide” walks users through the process of deciding when to evacuate, shelter in place, or defer and reassess as the situation evolves. It distinguishes between “pre-event evacuations”—which are undertaken in advance of an impending disaster (such as a storm) when the hospital structure and surrounding environment are not yet significantly compromised—and “post-event evacuations,” which are carried out after a disaster has damaged a hospital or the surrounding community. The guidance draws upon expert panel experiences as well as lessons learned from past events including the Northridge, CA, earthquake of 1994; the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor incident of 1979; and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Included is a self-assessment worksheet to help hospitals consider the critical infrastructure issues that affect a decision to evacuate.

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Public Health and Public Safety

2010 May 22 Posted by Charles

Capella University’s School of Public Service Leadership has announced a new degree offering with the DrPH. Capella has one of the few online DrPH programs and will have specializations in Health Advocacy and Leadership, and Epidemiology. Public health represents a critical area of study and research for scholar practitioners and I look forward to seeing how experts examine this intersecting space. What a great opportunity for applied research in the field!

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Public Service Challenge

2010 May 12 Posted by Charles

Many of us join the public service field to do our part to make our community or our part of the world a better place – I know that motivated me on many different levels during my extensive career in the public service field. Likewise, I know that there are countless brilliant stories of service from across the land. As it is with all education, when we share with the world our efforts, we all learn from each other and synergistically those efforts can become amplified across the land.

Capella University wants to honor, recognize and celebrate your efforts, contributions and service. Please visit the challenge site to learn more and to decide if you wish to share with others how you are making the world a better place.

Charles

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Deepwater Horizon Disaster

2010 May 4 Posted by Charles

Parts of the southern U.S.A. are in a state of emergency after the explosion, and subsequent sinking, of the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform. Unfortunately the explosion and sinking has resulted in a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the likes of which we have never witnessed. Aside from the multiple deaths from the explosion, a major ecological, environmental and economic catastrophe is slowing unfolding acorss the Gulf states.

Multiple response agencies are involved trying desperately to stop the flow of oil. Currently 5,000 barrels of oil per day are pouring into the water. Experts estimate that currently the oil slick is the size of Delaware and growing. A novel containment system is being fashioned to be deployed in the next few days with the hopes of containing the oil and then moving it to the surface.

Once the oil flow is contained an unprecedented clean-up and recovery situation will begin. I suspect that this disaster will become known as the one of the worst enviornmental, ecological and economic disasters of our time and perhaps of U.S. history.

I welcome any comments and observations from residents, emergency workers or volunteers from the impacted coastal states.

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What Influences Forensic Science?

2010 Feb 20 Posted by Laura Pettler

What Influences Forensic Science?

The ebb and flow of forensic science is influenced by several variables: politics, policy, technology, and culture just to name a few. While these variables act independently, each as a cog in the machine, they interrelate as well. Politics has a tremendous influence on forensic science in that the legislature of each state determines the budget for the crime lab each year. The crime lab then knows how much equipment can be purchased, how many tests can be run, and how many cases can ultimately be handled realistically.

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New Fire Administration Concentration Comes on Line

2010 Feb 11 Posted by Harry

It has been my privilege to be in the forefront of a number of different educational efforts within the fire service which have long held up the goal of professionalizing our field of endeavor as its primary goal. Many have been the battles with folks who never could see the need for fire service people to have a college education. However, that did not stop those among us who felt the need for advancing our chose career field.

The battle to raise the profile of knowledge within the fire service has been fought in a variety of places. The progress has come in an uneven fashion. Some of our earliest victories evolved into the fire programs at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State and the University of Maryland. More than that a wide range of programs have been developed over the years which range from the associate’s level, through the bachelor’s level and on up to the master’s degree level.

Last year the bar of excellence was raised again when Oklahoma State University (OSU) approved a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree program in Fire Service Administration. Mike Wieder, Assistant Director and Managing Editor at OSU Fire Protection Publications told me recently me that the OSU Political Science Department has 4 separate degree programs. They are Master’s and PhD’s in either Fire Service or Emergency Management. It should not be too very long before we are all able to benefit from the doctoral research performed within our field.

All of these successes have come about through the efforts of many dedicated people in our nation who saw a need in their area and labored mightily to meet those needs. One of my earliest successes involved the development of a Fire Science program back in 1977 at the Ocean County College (OCC) in Toms River, New Jersey. Local leaders saw the need and worked to convince the college to step up to the plate and meet those needs. It is a source of personal pride that the program is still ongoing today.

Not long before my work at O.C.C. began, it was my privilege to be one of the first four people in New Jersey to earn bachelor’s degrees in the field of Fire Safety Administration at what was then known as Jersey City State College. It was an honor to be out front on this important educational front. The program is moving along quite nicely these days at the school which is now known as the New Jersey City University. A number of its graduates have move on to positions of leadership within the American Fire Service.

Back in 2005 I completed the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree program in Organization and Management at Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Capella University is a regionally-accredited on-line university dedicated to providing excellence in distance learning at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels. The challenges to me were daunting, but the support network at the school and the help of fellow learners in the school assisted me in making the grade.

It was my good fortunate to be hired last year to teach on the faculty at Capella teaching within their School of Public Safety Leadership. My work there involves teaching emergency management and leadership in their doctoral programs in Emergency Management and Public Safety. A number of folks within the school have been lobbying for a fire service component to be developed within the existing public safety framework. Our efforts were rewarded recently when school approve a concentration in Fire Service Administration.

The concentration will be targeted to students at both the master’s and doctoral levels. It was my good fortunate to be selected to develop the concentration for the University. I will also be involved in the program development phase for the courses which will make up this new for a new doctoral-level concentration in Fire Service Administration at Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Capella is an on-line institution dedicated to providing excellence in distance learning.

Our school is looking to provide a series of courses that will equip learners with a core set of practical skills which will allow them to be better leaders and managers. In addition, our program will be looking to providing challenging research opportunities to our learners. A number of folks and I have long discussed the fact that a great deal of what we do in the fire service is based upon an analysis of anecdotal reflections on how the fire service has developed. We have shared the view that we need to create research into the “how-to” aspects of fire department operations.

It is with these thoughts in mind that I am working with the Capella University development staff to create a concentration that will address this need. The courses should be in place by early 2010 and the concentration should be available for the second quarter of the 2010 academic year which begins in April.

Let me share a bit of a secret with you. Truth be told, I have long nurtured a dream. That dream involves the creation of an on-line doctoral program at a regionally-accredited university. It is something which I surely would have loved to have been able to pursue as a young fire officer on the way up through the ranks. My affiliation with Capella is allowing me to make a beginning toward fulfilling that dream. It is my hope that future fire officers will benefit from our work.

It has long been my belief that education is a critical element within the career-related success which each of us wants to experience in life. For those folks who wish to broaden themselves into the challenging world of academic rigor, the opportunities to broaden and deepen your knowledge in the world of public safety leadership and emergency management, Capella is the place to be.

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The Media is a Serious Influential Variable

2010 Feb 3 Posted by Mike Brown

The terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti could be felt around the world. This was possible because of the media. The prior socioeconomic problems that plagued the poor country of Haiti exacerbated the consequences from the disaster and rippled through every facet of the county’s fragile structural and nonstructural infrastructure. The media was there, and we were there because of the media. Quarantelli noted that social problems require social solutions and anecdotally it appears that the nations of the world desire to assist Haiti in resolving its social problems. There can be no successful argument made against the positive impact the media has had in exposing the world to Haiti’s plight and that of its people. However, in the past the media has been accused of exploiting the news via sensationalism, and often exerting bias or tainting images, and contextual situations to pique the public curiosity or interest as was implied in literature by Tierney, Bevc, and Kuligowski. The media certainly appears to have remained a force in insuring international response, and creating a will for international collaboration in helping Haiti. The question is could the media have done more to help the innocent in Rwanda, could the media help those persons who are survivors of complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs) in Sudan? And can sustained media coverage provide the impetus for international disaster management relief and or proactive United Nations’ action? The people of Haiti know that the nations of the world are sympathetic to their plight but what about those in Darfur, and other areas of this globe. There are clearly disasters occurring in our midst in Sudan, the Congo, and elsewhere. The disaster preparedness community understands the position of the Commission on Human Security (CHS) that there is the lack of human security in some nation states. This issue of mass human violence can be as devastating as any major natural disaster in terms of loss of life and damage to property. Perhaps we just have to insure the media collaborates with the international disaster preparedness community in addressing this type of overlooked “unpopular political disaster” because it is becoming evident that there is power in the media.

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